


The Secrets of Kingdom Hearts: Organization XIII

by Lisagoth



Series: The Secrets of Kingdom Hearts [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Amnesia, Axel & Roxas & Xion Friendship (Kingdom Hearts), Axel & Roxas Friendship (Kingdom Hearts), Friendship, Game: Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Keyblade Wielder Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts), Lea-centric (Kingdom Hearts), Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts II, Organization XIII (Kingdom Hearts), Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 46
Words: 58,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28959627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisagoth/pseuds/Lisagoth
Summary: This fanfic uses the story from 358/2 Days as a springboard, with all other parts of the Kingdom Hearts lore as inspiration rather than strict canon. Principle characters struggle to understand concepts of morality and relationships, as they find that their memories have been erased, thanks to Darkness.
Series: The Secrets of Kingdom Hearts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139723
Kudos: 4





	1. The Beginning of Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel awakens.

All he wanted was to save his friend. He did not realize that he would have to first save himself.

A dark portal formed behind him, and two darts flew out from the portal, hitting him and his friend in the back of the neck, making them drop like flies. A figure stepped out and removed his hood, looking somewhat intrigued. “Playing it a little close, aren’t we, Norty?” he sneered.

Another hooded figured stepped out from the same portal. “We need to take both of them at the same time. If one is missing, the other would certainly raise the alarms. And don’t call me Norty. I told you, Xigbar, my name is Xemnas.”

“Oh, that’s _right_!” Xigbar said with a hint of mockery. “You’re the _other_ version of you! Man, I get so confused! How _do_ you keep up with yourself?”

Xemnas’ reaction was not known, since his face was completely covered. His voice did not betray any sense of emotion either as he seemingly moved on to another subject: “How do you feel?” he asked in a deadpan tone.

“Me? Oh, I can’t complain – _really_ I can’t! There’s nothing to complain about when you can’t feel a damn thing!” Xigbar grinned.

“Good. See that it stays that way.”

“And what about them?” Xigbar tossed his head in the direction of their two unconscious victims. “Should we kill them?”

“No. I will bring them into the Darkness. I think they will be of good use to us.”

“You sure about that? They seem a little incorrigible to me.”

“They are pliable. Expose them to the right conditions, and they will bend to it. The Darkness, although it does not destroy the body, will utterly obliterate the heart. I will give to them new values, new purposes. Let me take care of the bodies while you hide that contraption. Then, come, meet me at Castle Oblivion, where you will see the real action take place.”

xXx

Axel could not remember at what point he developed awareness. It was like a very soft, fuzzy line that could not define the exact moment that it took place. He recalled one of his earliest memories where he was walking down a long, narrow corridor of the castle, and as he passed by the Organization Leader, he instantly knew that his name was Xemnas, although he was not sure when the first introduction ever took place, if at all. It was the same thing with his own name: if someone said, “Axel,” he would immediately turn, like an automaton, towards the direction from where the name was called. When he looked at his own reflection, he was not sure who was looking back at him. He guessed that he may be about 20 years old. He had deep red hair, which he wore long and spiked at the back so that it resembled that of a hedgehog. Aside from his hair, one could say that he had quite an imposing figure. He was tall, thin, and lanky. When he slouched, he looked like a tree branch bowing to the weight of the world. There were two upside down purple triangles etched under his sea-green eyes. As far as he knew, he always had them, although he would rather do away with them, since he felt like they gave him the appearance of a clown, except he was not telling jokes, and no one was laughing.

One thing he did remember most about his first few weeks was the sheer boredom at The Castle That Never Was. It sounded quite alluring to live in a castle, and even its façade was quite imposing. But once inside, it became apparent how dreary it really was. It was very bare, with almost no furniture to speak of. It was like a huge tower with a wide, ascending staircase leading to different chambers that are designated as “rooms” for each member in the castle. The rooms themselves were very bland, with a singular bed and a window to look out at the perpetual night sky. Everything was white, which was a stark contrast to the black coats everyone wore at all times. He had no problem with his coat, as it offered him some semblance of warmth against the frigid insides of the castle. The first floor was the common area and therefore the most interesting. It had a “lounge” which only consisted of two long white couches and a low table between the two. Against the wall was a bigger table with chairs on each end, which members utilized for dining.

Axel was one of the newest members of the Organization, a group of “Nobodies” whose sole purpose was to “complete Kingdom Hearts” – whatever that meant. He already knew Xemnas and Xigbar, Member Numbers 1 and 2 respectively. Xaldin was Number 3, a rather brutish-looking fellow who Axel would rather not cross, but whose voice was surprisingly refined. Then there was Vexen, Number 4, a very condescending individual. In his mind, no one was more intelligent than him. He was very quick to point out that he was a “scientist.” As such, everyone knew that his role in the Organization was to create experiments with the elements of Darkness and Light. Lexaeus was Number 5, who was even more rugged than Xaldin. He carried a massive axe sword with him everywhere he went. He spoke very little and gave Axel the impression of a guard. Zexion was Number 6, who looked like he was still a child, yet was on par with Vexen in boasting of his own intelligence. He had a Lexicon with him all times, studying magic spells. Axel deduced that Zexion was most likely Vexen’s apprentice.

Everyone had a role in the Organization. Axel had yet to learn what his role was. So far, he and another new member, Saix, were only expected to get acclimated to their environment… and to themselves. Axel had developed some sort of schedule that he could only guess was similar to his routine when he was still human. He would sleep, wake up, take a shower, spend what he thought was an abnormally long time fixing his hair, eat, and then at some point go back to bed only to repeat the same process the next day. It was mind-numbing and boring, but he felt he needed to do these things just to remind himself that he existed; otherwise, he feared, that he might lose himself in a sea of unconsciousness.

Axel meandered over to the vending machine to see if there was anything interesting. Why did they even have a vending machine? Was Xemnas too cheap to buy them food? Axel reached into one of the many pockets in his coat and pulled out some loose change. He snorted at the sight of it. A meager allowance just for hanging out in the castle. He figured that maybe once he is assigned jobs, he will get more money.

“What’s the point of this anyway?” Axel sighed aloud miserably.

Saix was close enough to be within ear shot of him. “Point of what?” he asked.

Axel turned to his blue-haired companion. Although they both arrived to the castle at the same time, Axel rarely interacted with Saix, Member Number 7. Saix had a rather serious air about him that he did not like. Or maybe it was that X scar so prominently displayed on his face which Axel found disturbing. They both seemed to be of similar age, and perhaps under different circumstances they could have gotten along, but here in the castle Axel would rather not interact with him if at all possible. “What’s the point of eating if I don’t enjoy it? Or sleeping for that matter? I feel the same no matter what.”

“Axel, you eat to restore energy, and you sleep to conserve it. It’s not a requisite to enjoy those activities.”

“Well said, Saix,” Xemnas praised solemnly, seemingly coming out of nowhere. “You have learned very quickly during your brief time here.”

When Xemnas left, Axel sneered at Saix. “Aren’t you the pet?” he commented contemptuously. “You angling for something?”

“Please, Axel. I’m merely answering your question,” Saix commented matter-of-factly.

Axel returned his attention to the vending machine. After staring at it for some time, he backed away.

“If you’re short on change, I can give you some of mine.”

Axel curiously looked at Saix again. He had no idea that Saix had been watching him that entire time. He suddenly found himself wondering if Saix was just being nosy or if there was a genuine concern. If it was the latter, then why? “No,” Axel replied cautiously. “There’s nothing here worth my money – or appetite for that matter.”

“Suit yourself,” Saix shrugged and walked away.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next few chapters were actually written well after the original storyline from 358/2 days.


	2. Fun Times and Sea Salt Ice-Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel adjusts to life in the Organization

The next day, while Axel was sitting in his room, Xigbar suddenly breezed in. “Let’s go, Red,” he announced.

“Where?” Axel tried to hide his annoyance over the fact that he was rudely interrupted from doing… well, nothing, but he still felt like he was interrupted all the same.

“Training, my friend! You didn’t think you were just going to laze around here all day, did you? Gotta earn your keep, you know!”

Xigbar looked at least twice Axel’s age, but he always acted so overly familiar and casual, like he somehow earned that right. He was not like that with just Axel either – it was with everyone, including Xemnas, the leader himself. Everyone referred to Xemnas as either “Lord” or “My liege” except Xigbar, who just called him by his name alone. It appeared that Xigbar was the only one who could get away with it. Everyone else was at risk of appearing insubordinate.

Axel followed Xigbar to the training room, which might as well be any other room, since it was completely white and empty, with the exception of a single weapons rack against one of the walls.

Xigbar sauntered over to the weapons rack and tossed a sword at Axel while procuring one for himself. “First... let’s see how you dance!” Xigbar grinned. Xigbar charged at Axel with his sword while Axel blocked the attack and spun out of the way. Xigbar rushed at him again, and their swords clashed repeatedly. Although Axel was initially playing in defense, after a while he changed it to the offense, moving in towards Xigbar and then shoving him out of the way. They were both breathing heavily by that point, and Axel secretly wished that he had eaten something earlier to at least improve his stamina. “Not bad,” Xigbar panted after some deep breaths. He straightened his back and shook himself out. After a few moments that same plastered grin returned as Xigbar said wryly, “Why don’t we spice things up?” With outstretched hands, Xigbar flicked his wrists, and instantly two Arrowguns appeared, one for each hand.

Axel was stunned, as it seemed to have materialized out of thin air. “You can do that?” he cried.

“It’s no big deal,” Xigbar drawled. “You can do it too; you just don’t know it yet.”

Axel looked down at his own hands and started shaking them, but to his exasperation nothing happened. “I don’t get it! How does it work?”

“Don’t worry – _I’ll_ inspire you!” With that said, Xigbar aimed one of his Arrowguns at Axel and started shooting. Panicked, Axel scrambled for the sword and knocked the arrows in the other direction. Xigbar seemed to be enjoying himself all too much as he was shooting both Arrowguns alternately and inching closer to Axel.

One of the arrows hit Axel right in the shin. “Ow!” he screamed as he felt the sharp pain of its pierce radiating up his leg. He almost stumbled but managed to pull himself up with his uninjured leg. “You son of a bitch! You shot me!” Axel became so angry, that suddenly he saw his whole body flame up, although the flames did not char his skin. Surprised by what was happening, he momentarily forgot about the pain and anger as he stared at his hands, which materialized a pair of chakrams.

“You gonna just stand there or what?”

Another arrow whizzed by just inches from Axel’s face. “Hey, knock it off!” he yelled. He ran towards Xigbar and smacked one of the Arrowguns out of his hand. With another smack, he sent Xigbar flying across the room, but he was able to land on his feet by doing a backflip.

Despite the fact that Xigbar was slightly burnt and had a gash on his cheek from where Axel had hit him, he seemed quite pleased. “So… there it is!” he declared triumphantly, as if he was celebrating his own battle victory. “I guess _your_ training is complete!”

“That was terrible! If I was any angrier, I think I might have combusted!”

Xigbar threw his head back and laughed, like he was just told a really funny joke. “Well don’t do _that_!” he smirked. “Part of your job is to fight without getting maimed or killed!”

“Is that how you lost your eye?” Axel gestured at Xigbar’s eye patch.

For the first time ever, Axel saw Xigbar scowl. “Never you mind how I lost my eye! Let’s just go to the infirmary, and we’ll be as good as new.”

The “infirmary” was really just Vexen’s laboratory. When Xigbar and Axel came trudging in, looking all banged up, Vexen wordlessly handed each of them a bottle of some strange red liquid.

Axel hesitated. He held the bottle just slightly away from his face as he tried to smell it. “What’s this?”

“It’s an elixir,” Vexen replied hastily. He seemed decidedly put off at Axel’s lack of gratitude. “If you don’t want it, you can by all means give it back.”

“He wants it,” Xigbar stepped in with a somewhat dismissive air. He turned to Axel. “You’ll be awfully sore in the morning if you don’t take it now, believe me.”

Although he was still unsure about it, Axel went ahead and chugged the bottle of elixir. It was sickeningly sweet yet had a sharp and bitter aftertaste to it. He finished it off with a grimace. “Hey, Vexen, couldn’t you make this taste… I don’t know… _better_?”

Vexen looked so affronted that Xigbar busted out laughing. “You don’t really expect our ‘physician’ here to act like a chef too, do you?” he asked on their way out of Vexen’s laboratory.

“I guess not,” Axel shrugged. “So, listen, about the training room… what _was_ that anyway? I’m guessing that my anger conjured up those flames.”

“Anger, jealousy, hatred – whatever helps bring out the Power of Darkness from within you, that’s what you want to tap into. Our memories of what it is like to be human is the connection that keeps us between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness.” Xigbar explained that although they were without hearts, they still retained aspects of themselves when they had one and could therefore mimic human behaviors and feelings.

Memories of what it was like to be human – Axel wished he had a better frame of reference to what this meant. He could not imagine that humans felt as empty and shallow as he did at that moment. He decided that he will look for something – _anything_ – to fill that void.

xXx

Later on that day, as Axel was lying down to rest, he felt his stomach churning and the horrible taste of the elixir lingering in his mouth. He felt like he needed to eat something or he was going to get sick. He got up from the bed and prepared to head out. As he descended the stairs, he was suddenly intercepted by Xemnas. “Axel,” he called out. “I heard about your training today.”

“Yes, my liege,” Axel replied. He was not sure where Xemnas was going with this.

“I’m pleased to know that it went very well, and you will be going out on some missions shortly. There is a simple task that I would like for you to do today, however, seeing as how you and Xigbar used up the last of our elixirs.”

“Oh, yeah?” Axel wondered if Vexen told Xemnas that he complained about the taste.

Xemnas handed Axel a list and some money. “You are to go out to Twilight Town and obtain these ingredients. You can buy them in the marketplace. Get as much as you can. That is all.”

Grocery shopping – great. Is there anything lamer or more mundane than that? Still, Axel was grateful that he finally was able to do something outside the castle rather than just stare at the walls or sleep.

When Axel arrived to Twilight Town, he could not help but think about how pretty it was. There were a lot of reds and oranges throughout the tiny town, in contrast to the bleach white and greys of the castle. The most prominent feature of the town was a train station, and at the center of the town was a very tall clock tower. He walked towards the direction of the clock tower and eventually came upon the marketplace. As he aimlessly wandered around, his stomach started churning again. Ugh. He decided that he was just going to buy whatever from the first vendor he sees. No sooner did he meet this resolve, he found himself in front of an ice-cream cart. You know what? Why not?

“One ice-cream, please,” he said to the vendor.

“What flavor?” she asked.

“Oh. Uh…” It occurred to Axel that he did not even know what kind of ice-cream flavors he liked. After some hesitation, he said, “Well, what would you recommend?”

“Our most popular flavor is sea salt.”

“Okay. I’ll have that.” The vendor handed Axel one stick of sea salt ice-cream while he gave her money. When he took a bite of it, he was initially met with a tartness followed by a light sweetness. “This… isn’t bad,” he said, sounding somewhat surprised. He took out the list that Xemnas gave him while still holding onto his ice-cream with the other hand. “Do you know where I can find these?” he asked the vendor, showing her his list. She gave a cursory glance at it and pointed at another vendor from across the square. “Okay, thanks. Oh, can I have another ice-cream?” The vendor, who at this point was starting to look frustrated, handed him yet another stick. Axel did not realize until he turned around that there were other customers behind him, all getting impatient with how slow Axel was. He did not pay it any mind, as he was too distracted by how much he liked the ice-cream and decided that he was going to make a point to come here often – if for nothing else, then for the ice-cream alone.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing for Xigbar!


	3. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel learns the purpose of the Organization and more about their nature.

Axel’s first real mission came earlier than expected. It was exciting news, according to Xemnas, but Axel could not rise to the same level of enthusiasm. He had looked forward to spending much of his free time – and he had a lot of it – in Twilight Town, eating sea salt ice-cream, and watching the sun set on the horizon from atop the Clock Tower.

“We found a Keyblade wielder,” Xemnas announced.

“Really?” Xigbar asked with a hint of skepticism. “A master?”

“Perhaps.”

Xigbar grinned knowingly, although Axel was quite lost as to the importance of this subject. Xigbar turned to Axel. “Well, Flamesy Locks, you and I are going to do some scouting today.”

Axel shot him a dirty look. “Xiggy, I meant to tell you – I think your nicknames for me are really stupid.”

“Ha!” Xigbar retorted. “I think that’s the best one yet! It covers both your fire powers and your red hair.”

Xigbar and Axel went to Castle Oblivion to create a map for where this new Keyblade wielder was. They heard that he was somewhere deep in the jungles, and if they were going to create a dark portal, their aim better be correct.

Xigbar explained that a Keyblade wielder had a critical role to their Organization. It was the Keyblade, after all, that was able to release stolen hearts to complete Kingdom Hearts. When Axel asked why it was important for them to have Kingdom Hearts completed, Xigbar explained that it was only through this measure that they would be able to get hearts of their very own and hence return to human form. As Nobodies, they belonged to neither the living nor the dead. They were, so it seemed, in the middle of passing over, but their essence – that is, the strength of their hearts when they were human – fought back, resulting in them being straddled between the two realms. They were what was left behind, while the other half of them, called a Heartless, took their hearts to the Realm of Darkness. Axel thought it funny, and maybe a little unbelievable, that the only reason he currently exists is because he had a “strong heart” as a human. What did that even mean anyway?

Xigbar and Axel were sitting on top of a hill with their hoods over their heads as they waited and watched for this Keyblade wielder to arrive. Down below, through trees and thickets, finally emerged a boy who looked no older than twelve. He was carrying what looked like a giant key. Axel snorted incredulously. “Really?”

“Watch,” Xigbar replied solemnly.

All of a sudden, the boy was surrounded by the heartless, those dark creatures that looked like bugs but were roughly the same size as him. The boy slashed at every single heartless with his Keyblade until they disappeared and released a heart that floated up into the sky.

“He’s a little reckless,” Axel commented. “He just charges in.”

Xigbar shrugged. “Why fix what’s not broken?”

“So what do we do?”

“This is it.”

“What?” Axel scoffed. “Sounds boring. What’s the point of that?”

“Well, there’s more to it than that, obviously. We make sure that the battle is in his favor. If he looks like he is on the losing end, we help him out a little – all without his knowledge. We also attract the heartless to him. Most importantly, we lead him away from any keyholes.”

“Why?”

“His blade is shaped like a key for a reason. If he finds a keyhole, he is able to shut the connections between the two realms.”

“What does that mean?”

“What do you think? If we as Nobodies reside in neither realm, shutting the portal between the two realms would cause us to cease existence entirely.”

“So we need to turn ourselves human again before he locks us out.”

“You got it!”

Axel pondered over this for quite some time. “I wonder what I died from,” he finally said. “Do you think my family misses me?”

Xigbar raised an ambiguous eyebrow. “Sentimental, are we?”

“Sentimental? No.” Especially when he had nothing to be sentimental about. “I was just wondering, if I rush back into being a human, what or who am I rushing back to?”

“It’s not a matter of rushing. If you want to stay as a Nobody, then by all means. As long as we can stay reassured about our own existence, anyway.”

They were following the boy from a great distance all the while. They always had to make sure that they were well hidden and out of earshot. When the boy encountered a particularly big heartless, Xigbar fired a few arrows at it to weaken it so that it did not take much for the boy to land a finishing blow. “Nice!” Xigbar beamed as a huge heart floated up to the sky. “I wonder whose heartless that was? Must’ve come from a pretty powerful person.” This comment made Axel wonder if his own heartless was already vanquished.

xXx

Xigbar and Xemnas had a private meeting inside Xemnas’ chambers to discuss the progress with their newest members.

“Firehead asks too many questions,” Xigbar commented flatly.

“He is searching for meaning,” Xemnas explained. “We will give it to him. He will play an important part of the Organization. His powers can be quite useful to us.”

“And how about you? How’s _your_ little protégé coming along?”

“Saix has proven himself to be unblinkingly loyal. There is a level of callousness to him that I think will make him an excellent task master, don’t you agree?”

“You mean you’re stepping away from that role?”

“Yes. Having just eight members to our organization will not serve our purpose. We require thirteen. I will take it upon myself to scout for these members. We have wasted enough time as it is with our latest ones.”

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a lot of liberties here, away from Kingdom Hearts canon! For one thing, this is the first (and only) time the Organization ever implied that they were actually helping Sora with his missions. This might make it seem like Sora is not really all that powerful, but Sora has always emphasized that his friends were his true power!


	4. New Members

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel meets the newest members and adjusts to his role in the Organization.

For the next few months, Axel saw a dizzying array of members coming and going. They were always introduced by their numbers: 9, 10, 11, 12. Now they’re back to 9. There was not enough time to learn their names before they somehow and for some reason had to get eradicated. Their crime: treason. The definition of treason seemed to vary depending on the person who is accusing them of it. It could mean slacking off; it could mean misusing the Powers of Darkness (and the term “misuse” was also open to interpretation); if Xemnas did not like their attitude, this alone could count as treason. The word “traitor” seemed watered down to an insult, a way of saying that you are not a friend of the Organization – or, to put it more accurately, you are not a friend to Xemnas. It was left for Axel to eliminate the traitor by means of simple incineration. The job had its perks, such as giving Axel free reign in how he went about his missions. For him, this meant that he did not have to be under the micromanaging gaze of Saix all the time, since this type of mission was typically assigned by Xemnas himself.

One day, the newest Member Number 9 arrived. His nickname was The Melodious Nocturne, but he was otherwise called Demyx. He looked like he barely just graduated out of high school. Demyx was incredibly easygoing, quick to make jokes, and almost always tuning his sitar if not fixing his hair, which he kept in a faux Mohawk. For reasons unknown, it was made clear to everyone that Demyx was untouchable. This essentially meant that if he wanted to do absolutely nothing, he was allowed to do so, unless the orders came directly from Xemnas himself.

This frustrated Saix to no end, so in order to avoid the appearance of a power struggle, everyone else was always given an assignment except Demyx. Zexion, who appeared to be of similar age to Demyx, was the first (and only) member to protest. “Why can’t Demyx do this assignment?” Zexion asked Saix one day in a very straightforward manner when he was handed his sheet of orders.

“Because I am asking _you_ to do it,” Saix replied sternly.

“But Demyx seems better fit for the task.”

“Demyx is needed in this castle, therefore the task rests on you.”

“What is he doing?”

“That is none of your business. Your orders were given. I am not telling you twice.”

Zexion pressed his lips together tightly, as it slowly formed into a most discernable scowl. He looked like he wanted to protest again, but decided better of it, and simply replied, “Sir,” before disappearing through his portal.

Saix had a very cold and stoic demeanor, but Axel knew Saix well enough at this point to recognize that Saix was absolutely livid. That large X running across the middle of Saix’s face was throbbing like a conspicuous vein. It thus came as no surprise to him when Saix approached Axel in an aside and whispered, “I need you to watch Zexion carefully. If there are any screw ups, let me know about it.”

Axel was lounging as comfortably as possible on one of those hard couches, with his arms spread out over the back. He had watched that entire awkward interaction unfold like it was a titillating drama. “He was just offering his honest opinion,” smirked Axel with his head cocked to one side. “Quite frankly, I think he’s right.”

“Your opinion, like his, is noted, but unnecessary. Next time, keep it to yourself.”

“Where is that golden child, anyway?”

“He’s…,” at this point Saix reddened, as he did not want to admit that he actually did not know where Demyx was. “Axel, you have your orders. Now take it and leave.”

“You mean… to follow Zexion?” inquired Axel coquettishly.

“Yes! Yes!” Saix cried in exasperation. “Why are you still here?”

Axel snickered under his breath but decided to relent for now. He found it funny to fluster Saix that way, especially since he took himself so seriously. There was so little to do for entertainment that Axel sought whatever amusements he could find.

xXx

The newest members 10, 11, and 12 came at rapid succession. Axel remembered their names due to the significant amount of time he had spent with them. The first member, Number 10 was known as The Gambler of Fate, but his name was Luxord. Axel actually liked him. The guy had a British accent, which Axel thought was cool, and he wore a goatee. No one else had a goatee. He also liked the fact that Luxord routinely invited everyone to play cards. They always gambled their snacks since this was the only thing they had by means of possessions. Luxord explained to Axel one day that he had the ability to divine outcomes by reading the cards. This intrigued Axel, and he wondered how successful a gambler Luxord was in his previous life. At any rate, Luxord was definitely winning. During Luxord’s latest turn, Demyx suddenly ran to their table excitedly. “Hey, guess what!” he exclaimed, reminding Axel of a hyperactive puppy.

“What?” Axel said, trying his best to hide his foul mood over his losing streak.

“I hear we’re getting a girl!”

“A girl!” Luxord gasped in feigned shock. “Now where have I heard that before?”

“But it’s true!” Demyx insisted. “She is coming, along with some other guy. I think they call him the Graceful Assassin.”

“Assassin?” Luxord echoed. “Looks like you got some competition there – eh, Axel?”

“Well, I won’t exactly be heartbroken if my role of killing others goes to someone else,” Axel commented dryly.

“Ha!” chortled Luxord. “That’s too funny – you know, because we have no hearts!”

“Precisely.”

xXx

Axel met the two newest members of the Organization without any formal introduction. He ran into Marluxia first from behind. Initially he thought that this was the girl that Demyx was referring to due to a cascade of pink, feathery hair; however, when Marluxia turned around, the face was clearly that of a male.

“So you must be the Graceful Assassin,” Axel deduced.

“Indeed,” Marluxia replied in a melodious voice. Marluxia gave Axel the impression of a stage actor, which made Axel wonder what he was like in his previous life.

“You know, from your appearance, I wouldn’t really find you all that threatening.”

Marluxia grinned, clearly taking it as a compliment. Raising up one hand, he summoned his scythe, called the Graceful Dahlia, and playfully pointed it at Axel. “Looks can be rather deceiving, wouldn’t you say?”

“Oh, I see!” Axel exclaimed. “You’re like the grim reaper, only prettier.”

“There is beauty in even the grimmest situations, if you look hard enough.”

Axel did not mind Marluxia. He seemed laid back enough, although perhaps a little conceited. Axel’s meeting with Larxene, Number 12, was far more confrontational than Axel would have liked it to be. He was sitting in the lounge area, when all of a sudden he was approached by a woman who looked roughly the same age as Axel. She had straight blonde hair that she wore slicked back and short, except for pigtails on either side of her temple. Her eyebrows were merely drawn in with a black pencil in overly exaggerated arches. “There’s nothing to do here!” she squawked – or at least, that was how she sounded like to Axel. “This place is boring!”

“It’s not bad,” Axel replied lamely. He lied, but he did not feel like getting into a deeper discussion with her over the matter.

“So what do you do for fun?” she asked point blank.

Axel stalled. He instantly thought about the Clock Tower in Twilight Town, his private little place that he liked to escape to after every mission. He shuddered at the thought of anyone – especially Larxene now – finding out about it and crashing his hang out spot. “Well… Luxord sometimes sets up poker games.”

“Luxord? I don’t really feel like hanging out with old men!”

Axel was a little put off. It was like this girl was trying to find something to complain about. And anyway, Luxord was not even that old, could be in his 30s… “What do you want from me?” Axel asked when Larxene remained standing over him.

Now it was Larxene’s turn to look put off. “I have to _want_ something from you just to talk to you?”

“Well, yeah, I was busy.”

“Doing what? You were just sitting there when I came up to you.”

“I mean, I was busy thinking.” He had no idea why he felt like he needed to defend himself.

Before things could get any worse, Demyx popped in. “Hey,” he said in as debonair a manner as he could to Larxene’s back. When she turned around to face him, Demyx’ whole expression dropped. “Oh, man! You’re just some old chick!”

“What?!” she screeched. “I’m not old! What are you? A baby?”

“Maybe if you apply your eyebrows better, you wouldn’t look so old,” Axel offered in as straight a face as possible.

This only offended Larxene even more. “How dare you!” she said. “How dare _both_ of you! I’m… I’m telling Xemnas! Yeah, that’s right! I’ll be back!” With that said, she stormed off, all the while Axel and Demyx were laughing behind her. 

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The interaction between Axel and Larxene was inspired by another written work Kingdom Hearts 2: Short Stories Vol 2 Axel - Seven Days, written by Kanemaki Tomoco


	5. A Turning Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stakes are raised, there is a change of plans.

With the latest additions to the Organization, things around the castle were getting a lot more entertaining, but tensions were also at an all-time high. Xemnas was almost always locked inside his chambers, doing who-knows-what. Xigbar was constantly going in and out of the castle all hours of the day from reconnaissance missions. Saix had more or less been in charge with maintaining order and structure within the increasingly chaotic group. They all had to move in one accord towards a singular purpose to complete Kingdom Hearts, a task that at times seemed all too impossible.

One early morning, during a time when almost everyone was in the common area, they heard a loud crash. They looked up to see an uncharacteristically infuriated Xigbar. He had kicked one of the front doors down in anger and looked like he was ready to shoot everyone. “Xemnas!” he screamed, foaming in the mouth. “Xemnas, where are you? We have a problem here!”

Xemnas suddenly appeared by way of the dark portal.

Before Xemnas could say anything, Xigbar continued yelling. “I got to talk with you!” He was pointing an accusatory finger at Xemnas. “Your other –”

“Xigbar!” Xemnas exclaimed, instantly cutting him off. His voice was loud but even toned. If Xemnas was angry or annoyed, he did not show it. His expression remained ever calm, stoic. “We will go in my chambers, and you can talk to me there.”

“Hmmph!” Xigbar replied, but he did not say anything else as he stepped into the portal with Xemnas.

Everyone had watched the entire scene unfold with large eyes, like they were children who had just witnessed their parents fighting for the very first time.

“What do you think _that_ was about?” Demyx finally asked the group, breaking the long period of stunned silence that preceded it.

“Do you really think Xemnas will show us his cards?” Luxord inquired.

“What does that mean?” Demyx turned to Luxord quizzically.

Luxord sighed. “It _means_ that Xemnas has secrets that he is not willing to share with us.”

“To see Xigbar so riled up like that… and for him to talk to Xemnas like that! You think he’ll be okay?”

“The only one who should care about Xigbar’s welfare is Xigbar himself,” Saix interjected nonchalantly. “I suggest everyone else who is _not_ Xigbar should focus on their assignments.”

Axel rolled his eyes. “Lighten up, Saix. You’re not the least bit curious as to what that was about?”

“I’m sure we’ll know… in time. But until then, there’s no point speculating. This is an organization; not a soap opera.”

With that said, everyone slowly dispersed.

xXx

Xigbar and Xemnas were inside his chambers with the door closed. Xigbar was still shaking from anger, but he was able to restrain his voice better than when he first arrived. “Look, what are we going to do? Hollow Bastion is no more! Our little hero just locked that portal thanks to your _other_ self giving away its location!”

“We will just have to rebuild,” Xemnas coolly replied.

“Rebuild with _what_?” Xigbar scoffed. “Do we even have time for that? We’re almost at thirteen members!”

“Our plans have not changed, although it will have to be delayed. The hero… I am afraid that we will have to make ourselves known to him now.”

“So what about the Replica Program? How’s that going to be rebuilt? It’s not like _we_ know how to build it!”

“You know just as well as I do who in our midst is capable of performing that task.”

Xigbar balked, scratching the back of his head with uncertainty. “I don’t know about this. It may jog his memories.”

Xemnas smiled reassuringly. “No, I don’t think so. Saix is so deep in the Darkness, he will not be able to access them by the time it is completed. Have you seen him lately?”

“Yeah. He’s the perfect robot… just like you wanted.”

xXx

Axel saw Xemnas and Xigbar return to the lounge, where Saix was still reviewing his reports. Xigbar appeared to be his normal smug self, while Xemnas looked a little more interested than usual. Xemnas approached Saix and whispered something to Saix that made him look up, somewhat confused. Wordlessly, Xemnas and Saix disappeared into a dark portal, while Xigbar hung back. When Xigbar thought he was alone, he impulsively reached for behind his right ear. He paused and then started patting his coat to feel around the numerous pockets until he came across what he was looking for. At this point, Xigbar realized that Axel had been watching him the entire time. “Hey buddy – you got a light?” Xigbar called out to Axel wryly.

Axel sauntered over to Xigbar. With a snap of his fingers, he produced a flame and touched the end of Xigbar’s cigarette.

“A bad habit that Xemnas would rail on me for if he ever catches me,” Xigbar explained almost apologetically. “I guess vices never truly go away.”

“You mean you remember?”

Xigbar paused, appearing caught off guard. He was looking at some faraway place as he considered his response. “I guess so,” he finally offered without much conviction.

“So are you going to tell me what that little performance was about?”

Xigbar sighed in frustration. There was a look of unease that was so unlike Xigbar that even Axel was starting to feel the tension as he caught himself clenching his own jaw.

“Do you remember what I told you about the keyholes?” Xigbar leaned in and dropped his voice to a murmur. “Well, our little hero locked a rather critical one for us. It’s changing some of our game plans.”

“Critical, huh? As in, we’ll-be-stuck critical?”

Xigbar frowned. Axel could tell that there was a lot more to it than what Xigbar was choosing to disclose. “Yeah… something like that,” Xigbar replied cautiously.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Xigbar so much here! I feel it is so easy to go more in depth into his personality.  
> Xigbar makes an allusion to Xemnas' "other self" although for the purpose of this stage of development in the story, it is not explained until much later.  
> More details going away from the canon, but it makes the story more streamlined.


	6. The Replica Program

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saix learns what the Replica Program is.

Xemnas brought Saix to Castle Oblivion, where the main hub of the Organization’s day-to-day operations took place. No one knew how the Castle came to be, but it was where all Nobodies were born, so to speak. The name “oblivion” was the chosen moniker due to a rather bizarre feature of the facility – that it appeared to be multi-dimensional. It was suspected as such given the changing nature of its interiors. No one could really count all the rooms or measure the building from top to bottom and expect it to remain the same. The facility’s unique properties allowed the Organization to forever add rooms as they saw fit, although they were never able to take away.

Xemnas led Saix passed the Chamber of Repose to an apparent dead end of an unassuming wall. Xemnas opened a dark portal for them to step into and entered a large room, but it was completely empty.

“This is Chamber X, where I will place my Replica Program,” Xemnas explained to Saix.

“My lord?” Saix turned inquiringly.

“The Replica Program is a very powerful computer that can take anything from the real world, digitize it, and then re-assemble it so that it can exist again in the real world. The possibilities with such a device are endless.”

“Sounds like science fiction.”

“But it’s not.”

Saix again looked at Xemnas with curiosity. “All right then… if it’s not, let’s see it at work.”

“We don’t have one – yet. But that is where you come in.”

“Sir?”

“Saix, I happen to know that in your past life, you were working on such a computer before you had succumbed to Darkness. Although you may not have memories of it, your skills and talents still reside within you. An unconscious memory – otherwise known as procedural memory – will kick in.”

“My liege, with all due to respect, how do you know this?”

“Come with me.”

Xemnas and Saix exited out of Chamber X and went into the Chamber of Repose. The room itself looks like an endless corridor of pods housing Nobodies just waiting to be activated. Xemnas pulled out what looked like a scanner and used it on one of the pods. The scanner pulled up a name, the person’s age, and their previous occupation. “A baker? No, we have no use for one,” Xemnas muttered.

“Maybe we do,” Saix offered. “At the very least, he can help Vexen make the potions taste better, and we won’t have to hear those like Axel complain so much.”

Xemnas grinned condescendingly. “To add such a member just for the sake of creature comforts would ultimately become detrimental to our purpose. They are distractions – nothing more – away from the Organization’s mission.”

“You are right, my lord,” Saix replied without hesitation. However, in his mind, he thought, “So that’s why the castle is so gray and dull looking.” He could not help but think about the wayward habits of some of the members – Luxord’s love for gambling; Demyx’s penchant for staying on that sitar all day; Larxene’s incessant flirting; Axel’s… well… his overall tendency to slack off.

Just as Saix wondered about his own information, Xemnas – as if able to read Saix’s thoughts – placed a reassuring hand on Saix’s shoulder. “Your own past life, that itself is a distraction. Do not deceive yourself into believing that you have a place here in this world – you don’t. At least, not as you are now. As Nobodies, we are not meant to be. Your feelings, your memories, they are all just illusions. Nothing you see here is real.”

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this story, Saix is actually the one that created the Replica Program. Additionally, this chapter shows how the Nobodies are scouted as potential members, although I am sure that is not how it is done in the true Kingdom Hearts lore!


	7. Chain of Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Saix struggles with his own insecurities, we go through the storyline of Chain of Memories.

For the next few days, Saix had very limited interactions with the rest of the members – even less than usual. As soon as he handed them their assignments in the morning, he would withdraw himself into Chamber X, where he was given everything he needed to work on the super massive computer and create blueprints for it. Although he generally accepted his tasks without giving them much thought, this time, he felt a certain heaviness in his chest that he recognized as a symptom of anxiety. Yes, he was feeling very anxious, and it felt very familiar… If he thought about it long enough, he could even mentally teleport himself back to a situation where he felt this exact same way. He had it in his mind, but the picture was just too blurry. “I used to work late nights and sweat over the small things,” he thought to himself. What bothered him was that this does not sound like the kind of person who would take a leadership role. That’s the personality of an assistant, or a lackey…

Saix was in the lounge the following morning, grinding his teeth with those thoughts of insecurity when suddenly Xigbar popped up in what seemed to be a really good mood. “Well, I found our plucky hero,” Xigbar beamed with the kind of self-satisfaction that said that he was fishing for compliments. “He’s not too far from here either. He’s trying to find his friend, who just so happens to be somewhere inside Castle Oblivion.”

“What? How did he get in?” Zexion inquired, looking up at Xigbar with intrigue.

“Good question. I guess he must have somehow landed in the Realm of Darkness, but he apparently made it out.”

“So now the real fun will begin,” Saix replied through tight lips. Saix looked like he was having anything _but_ fun. “Marluxia, this is your assignment. You will lure the hero to Castle Oblivion. Xemnas had already given you authority for all operations there.”

Marluxia grinned as he materialized his scythe and pulled it out for dramatic effect. “By all means! And what would you like me to do with him?”

“ _Don’t_ kill him,” Saix said emphatically. “We need him very much alive to fulfill our chief objective.”

Marluxia pouted, allowing his scythe to disappear before crossing his arms over his chest, his hips swung to one side. “So what then?”

“That is being taken care of as we speak. Vexen will be meeting you at Castle Oblivion to fill you in on those details.”

“Oooh, how exciting! Can I come along for the ride?” Larxene interjected eagerly.

“Of course,” Saix acquiesced readily. Larxene gleefully ran over to Marluxia, who had created a dark portal, and the two of them went in. Saix’s glare zeroed in on Axel, who had been watching everything rather listlessly from across the room. He was not impressed with this so-called hero that everyone seemed to be making such a big deal about. “And what say you, Axel?”

Axel returned the glare and shrugged. “Better them than me,” he posed.

“But, Axel, your job is the most important one of them all.”

Axel balked. “What do you mean?”

“Your task is to keep tabs on Marluxia. And Larxene, of course.”

“You mean, you don’t think he’ll get the job done?”

“The man’s competency isn’t being questioned; it’s his subordination. He was overheard complaining about the way the Organization is run.”

“Is that an offense against you… or Xemnas?” Axel sneered.

“An offense against me _is_ an offense against Xemnas. The point is, if you are not for the Organization, you are against it.”

“This is true. We can’t have that now, can we? Okay, what do you want me to do?”

“Whatever you see fit, up to and including annihilation if necessary.”

Axel seemed pleased with this answer and disappeared into a dark portal.

xXx

Marluxia stepped into an open field and scanned the area, where he had received intelligence as to the hero’s location. Sure enough, he found a boy, perhaps no older than fourteen, running through the long grass. He looked utterly lost.

“You are searching for someone, are you not?” Marluxia asked the hero in a calm, soothing voice as he intercepted his path.

“My friend,” the boy panted. “I was told you have him! I was told that you have him in a place called Castle Oblivion!”

“Castle Oblivion is reachable from here, but by no ordinary means,” Marluxia explained. “In order to get to it, you must traverse through the corridor of Darkness.”

“Darkness? Does that make you a heartless?” the boy braced his Keyblade in preparation for an attack.

Marluxia laughed in a hollow manner. “It is true that I am without a heart, but unlike them, I belong to neither the Realm of Light nor Darkness, yet I can traverse through both.”

The boy lowered his blade. He still was not sure whether to trust him or fight him. “My friend… Riku… he went through the Darkness. I think if he can do it, than so can I.”

“Such a noble yet reckless spirit. But, if you insist, I will not deny you.” Marluxia created a dark portal behind him and offered a stretched out hand to the boy. “By the way, what is _your_ name?”

The boy hesitated. “Sora…,” he replied uncertainly.

“Sora,” Marluxia drawled. “Like the heavens. A befitting name for a hero. Do you think there is someone up there watching over you?”

“I guess,” Sora shrugged.

“If that is the case, then you have nothing to worry about.” Sora took Marluxia’s hand, and Marluxia pulled Sora into the dark portal, where they traversed the corridor of Darkness and emerged through the other side and into the main hallway of Castle Oblivion. “You have a strong heart,” Marluxia commented when he saw Sora unaffected. “That is good. Castle Oblivion is not for the faint of heart. But make no mistake, those who stay here too long, much like in the Realm of Darkness, will end up losing themselves. They will forget who they are.”

“Will I encounter monsters?” Sora asked.

Marluxia chuckled. “Monsters… yourself… When you go in, Sora, you will be confronted with all your memories, but they will not be as they seem.”

His memories? “You know what? I don’t care about that!” Sora exclaimed in determination, whipping out his Keyblade once more. “If Riku is trapped in here, I have to do everything I can to get him out! He can always help me remember who I am afterwards!”

“Your bravery is commendable, but let’s see how strong you _really_ are!”

Just as Marluxia was about to summon his powers, Axel suddenly popped up from behind him. “Hello!” Axel said in a gratingly cheerful manner.

Marluxia scowled. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Well, hey there! No hogging the hero now,” Axel replied dryly.

“I suppose you would want to test him?”

“I suppose I would.”

“Hmmph!” pouted Marluxia, but then as he thought about it, he seemed a little more intrigued. “All right," he finally said. “When you’re finished, come back to me with a full report.” Marluxia pulled out a card from his front coat pocket and flung it at Axel, who promptly caught it. Marluxia then disappeared through the dark portal as Axel saluted him farewell.

Sora was taken aback when he saw how easily they were able to appear and disappear through the Darkness. “Who are you people?!” he cried.

“ _People_?” Axel snickered. “You’re already wrong there! But as for me, my name is Axel. Got it memorized?”

“I won’t have to once I’m through with you!” Sora retorted, bracing himself with his Keyblade.

Axel sneered. “Such tough talk for half-pint! Okay then, Keyblade Master, let’s see how tough you really are!” Axel summoned his chakrams and set them ablaze. He looked at Sora with a manic kind of excitement. “Don’t die on me now!”

xXx

Axel trudged to the meeting room in Castle Oblivion, where he knew Marluxia would be waiting for him. He felt incredibly embarrassed that he was almost obliterated by a kid. “I guess he really is the Keyblade Master,” Axel thought to himself. But how? He looked like he had never fought a day in his life, so puny…

“Ugh!” Axel grunted in disgust when he finally arrived to the meeting room. He saw Marluxia standing in one corner of the room, hovering over a small girl who was sitting in a chair with her head bowed.

Marluxia did not turn around to face Axel. “And how did it go?” he asked in a nonchalant tone.

“The kid has a lot of spunk,” Axel replied sourly.

“Oh, yes, I saw that wretched performance of yours,” Marluxia chuckled.

“Well, when our orders are to not kill him, I can’t exactly go full force into it, can I? Besides, I didn’t know he was going to blast me with ice from that stupid Keyblade! Frayed up my nerves!”

“It’s called a _dodge_ , Axel. You ought to practice your defensive moves more.”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s see how well you do _dodging_ him when your time comes.” Axel limped over to the nearest couch and threw himself onto it more dramatically than it warranted. He pulled out a small vial of one of Vexen’s nauseating elixirs and tried to chug it down before he had a chance to taste it. Despite his best efforts, the taste still lingered in the back of his throat, and he thought he was going to be sick. He looked over to Marluxia again. “Who is that, anyway?” he said, gesturing with the hand that was holding the vial.

Marluxia finally turned to Axel and grinned. “Our little secret weapon, Namine. Vexen found her in the Chamber of Repose. She is the object of Sora’s affection… or at least, she will be, once she replaces all of Sora’s previous memories piece by little piece with herself in it.”

“Hmmph! Where will we be without our damsels in distress? But he is already looking for his friend, the other hero.”

“Yes, that’s the best part! That friend will become his enemy. We can kill two birds with one stone. By the time he finds his friend, he will think that _he_ is after Namine and will kill him. Then, Sora can be ours for the taking. He will be the perfect little puppet for _our_ little faction! Isn’t that right, Namine?”

Namine said nothing but kept her head bowed.

“Well, now, let’s see how Larxene is doing,” Marluxia commented as he disappeared into the dark portal.

Axel got up from his lounging position and stood over Namine with his arms crossed. “Does it hurt, Namine,” he asked mockingly, “knowing that two best friends will fight to the death because of you?”

Before Axel could say anything else, Larxene suddenly appeared. “I am _so_ exhausted after throwing that fight!” she sighed pretentiously.

Axel, in a fit of trying to hide his own amusement, commented as stoically as possible, “You look like you got burnt from your own lightning strikes.”

“What? Of all the –” Larxene sputtered in an outrage.

“Your hair, Larxene.” Axel motioned at his while encouraging her to look at her own.

She turned to a window and screeched at her own reflection. Her blonde hair, usually sleeked back straight, had become a ball of static, sticking straight up from the roots.

xXx


	8. Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel eliminates the traitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Character death

Axel returned to the Organization headquarters promptly to advise Saix that Marluxia was using Namine to turn Sora into a puppet.

“A puppet?” Saix echoed with some consternation.

“You sound like you’re familiar with the term.”

“Yes… in a way… but Namine was meant to erase Sora’s memories, not change him! The only reason why anyone would create a puppet is to turn them into a weapon of destruction.”

“And Marluxia plans on using that weapon of destruction against the Organization! I gotta say, you were right about him being a traitor.” Axel crossed his arms as he swayed slightly from side to side, thinking. “You know, I can’t help but wonder if Vexen was the one behind that little scheme. Marluxia does not come across as smart enough to hatch a plan like that all on his own.”

“No, I guess not,” Saix agreed. “Vexen had been doing a lot of grumbling lately. The man is too smart for his own good. That is his own downfall.”

“He needs to be taken care of, doesn’t he?” He shifted his gaze onto Saix in implication.

“He certainly does. You know what needs to be done.”

Axel grinned wryly. “Haven’t a clue, really,” he said in a conspiratorial manner. “Maybe you ought to spell it out for me?”

Saix pursed his lips together, his eyes narrowed in determination. “Eradicate him.”

Axel feigned shock. “You mean to take down an elder? That seems awfully brash, doesn’t it?”

“You have your orders.”

Axel appeared all too gleeful. Much of his duties involving assassinations had so far been with neophytes. Vexen carried some level of importance in their organization. Taking someone like him down would really shake things up. “No taking that back now,” Axel said slyly as he disappeared into a dark portal.

xXx

Axel slipped into Vexen’s laboratory. He actually really hated it there as it reminded him of a doctor’s office, although he was not sure how he got that reference. But Vexen was someone that he had wanted to get rid of for a long time. It began when he heard gut-wrenching screams in the middle of the night, and he learned that they came from the subjects of Vexen’s “experiments.” The mere word made his teeth hurt, like he was chomping down on ice. The experiments took place past a rustic door at the other end of the laboratory. He never wanted to see what was on the other side of that door. Vexen was busy at an end table, mixing potions. His back was facing Axel. Too easy.

“Hello, Vexen,” Axel said coolly.

He saw Vexen jump a little before turning around with a dismayed expression. “What are you doing here?” Vexen scowled. “You can’t be here if you don’t have prior authority.”

“Oh, but I do!” Axel replied. “I stand here upon good authority to annihilate you, a traitor, on behalf of the Organization!”

“What?!” Vexen cried, alarmed. “How am I a traitor?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know! Playing with Sora like the rest of your little ‘experiments!’ All for the sake of science, right? Idle curiosity strays from our goal, you know.”

“ _Excuse_ _me_ if wanting to learn about the nature of who we are as Nobodies is considered ‘idle curiosity!’ Do I need to remind you that our very existence defies logic and reasoning?”

“I am reminded of that every day! We are Nobodies who have no one to be, yet we still are. But now you can be nothing instead of just being a Nobody.” A wicked grin plastered his face. “You’re off the hook!”

With that said, Axel threw one of his chakrams by Vexen’s feet. Vexen’s eyes grew large with terror. He knew what was coming up next. “No, wait a minute – please!” Vexen screamed.

“Good-bye.” A simple snap of Axel’s fingers caused the chakram to detonate, lighting Vexen’s whole body into flames. He gave an agonizing shriek – the same kind of shriek Axel had heard many times from the subjects of Vexen’s experiments – before dissolving into dust. Axel laughed at the irony. For the first time, he will be able to get a quiet night’s sleep. 

xXx

When Axel returned to the meeting room at Castle Oblivion, he found Namine sitting in a corner, alone, and cradling her sketch book in her arms. “You mean you won’t run?” he asked Namine, surprised. “Marluxia is not here to stop you.”

“It’s not because of Marluxia that I am still here,” she replied sadly. “It’s Sora.”

“Oh, yes. Your fake love interest. You have my sympathies. From the heart.”

Namine looked up angrily at Axel.

“What righteous indignation,” he cooed mockingly. “Don’t tell me you actually have feelings for him? If that is the case, you are especially cruel.”

“ _I’m_ cruel?” Namine repeated in shock.

“Sora has no real feelings for you except what _you_ tell him to feel. Everything he knows from you is a lie. How is that not cruel?”

Just then, Marluxia returned, appearing utterly disgusted. “Well, that was a waste,” he commented bitterly.

“What happened?” asked Axel.

“Larxene got carried away. I guess her jealousy got the best of her. Women, am I right?”

“So Sora annihilated her?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Well, that saves _me_ the trouble.”

Marluxia paused, glowering at Axel. It did not take him long to connect the dots. “Playing the double agent, are we?”

“Don’t take it personal! You _know_ my task is to annihilate all traitors, and your flavor of treason happens to be the most pungent of them all!”

“Xemnas has you wrapped pretty tightly around his little finger, doesn’t he?” Marluxia sneered. “That’s too bad: we would’ve made a good team, you and I.” Marluxia summoned his scythe and swung it swiftly at Axel, who back-flipped out of the way and used his chakrams as a shield. They circled around each other as they assessed the other’s exposed areas and weak points.

“In the name of the Organization, _I_ will annihilate _you_!” Axel declared.

Marluxia just chuckled. “That line… is not you,” he smirked.

Axel shrugged. “Had to try it out at least once, you know.”

The two charged at each other again, clashing with their respective weapons. Just as Axel thought he was getting the upper hand, Marluxia suddenly pulled Namine in and had her stand before him. Namine just shook silently in terror. She was less than half of Marluxia’s size.

“Is that your shield?” sneered Axel. “Won’t do you any good, I’m afraid.”

“Hmm, I wonder,” Marluxia mused. He then projected his voice. “You hear that, Sora? Axel just said that he is willing to hurt Namine to get to me!”

Axel did not have to look back to know that Sora was right behind him, Keyblade in hand, and positioned to attack. “Oh, come now!” Axel sighed in a jaded manner. “Don’t tell me you’re Marluxia’s puppet already!”

“When I’m through with you, he’s next!” Sora growled. Axel had the image of a lion cub practicing his tiny roars.

Axel slowly turned around. “Now, Sora… I really _don’t_ want to fight you…” Axel once again produced his chakrams and his whole body lit ablaze. He looked up menacingly at Sora. “But I can’t dishonor the Organization, now can I?” Axel rushed at Sora, who whipped out his Keyblade and deflected every strike Axel executed. To his dismay, Sora once again conjured ice, blasting Axel and sending him into shock. In a desperate and clumsy effort to save himself, Axel summoned a dark portal, but he accidentally formed it directly beneath him so that he went falling through and crashing onto the floor one story below.

“Oof!”

xXx

Axel did not know how long he was out, but when he came to, he sensed that a significant time had elapsed. He was surprised that he did not die – if not from the fall, then at least in the hands or Sora or even Marluxia. He lied still for a few more minutes before he tried to get up. He was sore, but thankfully nothing seemed broken or seriously injured. He staggered up and figured that he might as well return to the top floor to at least see the damage that was done. When he arrived, he saw Marluxia flat on his back, apparently unconscious. He dropped beside him and vigorously shook him up. Marluxia slowly opened his eyes and looked at Axel. “What happened?” Axel asked. “Did Sora do this to you?”

“Sora?” Marluxia seemed momentarily confused before returning to his senses. “No, not Sora. Another. The _other_ hero. Riku. He came and got Sora. Namine too.”

Axel sighed in frustration. “Marluxia… he was our _one_ chance to complete Kingdom Hearts! And now we lost him!”

Marluxia just smirked. “Do you really believe that? The reality is Kingdom Hearts is so much more than what Xemnas says it is.” Axel stood back up and offered his hand. Marluxia appeared intrigued by this gesture, but nonetheless accepted it. “You mean you won’t kill me?” he asked.

“Oh no, I will,” Axel replied. “It just doesn’t seem very sportsmanlike to kick someone when they’re down.”

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So again, MAJOR differences - to start with, where Vexen actually gets killed and reasons. I had a hard time with this one, because even when Axel killed Vexen in the game, I was a little unclear as to why he did it. Still, he had some pretty awesome lines, and I wanted to make sure I kept that all in.


	9. Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saix learns where Axel's true loyalties lie.

After Axel had left for Castle Oblivion, Saix went straightaway to Xemnas. “My liege,” Saix said coolly as he knocked on the door of Xemnas’ chambers. Xemnas opened the door, appearing somewhat annoyed, as if he had been interrupted. “It is my regret to tell you that Vexen is either in the process or has already committed treason,” Saix continued without hesitation.

“Oh?” Xemnas said inquiringly with an arch of his brow.

“It appears that Vexen may be trying to compete with the Replica Program,” Saix explained. “He is trying to make Sora into a puppet.”

“Is that right? So you don’t think it has anything to do with the interesting specimen he has found earlier today?”

“My liege?”

“In the Chamber of Repose. He found what appears to be the Nobody belonging to Sora.”

“Sora’s… Nobody?” Saix was thoroughly confused. It had never occurred to him that it was possible for a person and their Nobody to exist simultaneously.

“Sora’s heart is very special, in case you haven’t noticed,” Xemnas explained matter-of-factly. “We have learned that when he was in Hollow Bastion, he had died, but only for a moment. It was that moment that created his Nobody. Vexen discovered that his Nobody possesses the capability of producing the Keyblade. However, when he opened the pod, he found that the Nobody did not activate as planned.”

“So he assumed that if he turned Sora into a puppet, that this would activate his Nobody?”

“Maybe. But we do not know for sure. At any rate, his Nobody appears to be… defective. It is not known to us if Sora can produce another Nobody upon a second death or if his current Nobody would wake up at all in that event.”

“Perhaps… now is the time to test out the Replica Program. We will take a blank and transfer all of the properties from Sora’s Nobody and into the blank. See what comes of it.”

Xemnas nodded his satisfaction with this plan. Saix quickly bowed to Xemnas before hurrying off to the Chamber of Repose, where he was given the coordinates for the Nobody’s location.

xXx

When Saix returned to the lounge, he noticed that the atmosphere was quite restless. Before he could speculate as to the cause of this newfound energy, Zexion approached him. “Is it true?” he asked with a wide eye appeal. “Did Axel really incinerate Vexen?”

“Word travels fast,” Saix grumbled irritatingly. “Who told you?”

“I hear Xigbar is quite angry about it.”

“Well, he should get over it, then. His feelings on the matter are not relevant.”

“But he was an _elder_. And his role in our organization was really important.”

Growing impatient with the conversation, Saix crossed his arms and sneered. “He was your mentor, was he not? I guess you’ll be taking over his duties from now on.”

xXx

Sometime later during that day, Saix found Axel wandering the halls, looking disoriented and frazzled. “Oh, hey,” Axel said to Saix in a way that Saix could tell he really did not want to talk to him.

“Oh, hey?” Saix repeated angrily. “What does _that_ mean? How did the mission go?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? It was a complete disaster,” Axel snarled.

Sax quickly ushered Axel into his room so that they could have privacy. “So what happened?” he asked in a more subdued tone. As Axel explained the events that took place in Castle Oblivion and how the other hero had taken Sora, Saix grew increasingly dismayed. “So Marluxia…”

“He’s gone. I took care of him.”

“Larxene…”

“Gone. Sora took care of her.”

“Namine…”

Axel sighed. “I’m afraid the other hero took her too.”

Saix grunted in disgust. The mission _was_ a complete and utter disaster. “You should have just taken out Marluxia earlier.”

Axel’s eyes flashed in anger as he looked at Saix. “My _mission_ was to keep tabs on Marluxia! I had to prove that he was committing treason, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t need to kill Vexen for that! For all you know, he may not have had anything to do with Marluxia’s plans.”

“What do you mean?”

“Xemnas told me that Vexen found Sora’s Nobody, but he doesn’t seem to be alive. Xemnas thought that maybe Vexen wanted to use Namine’s abilities as a way to re-activate the Nobody.”

“Meaning…”

“Meaning Vexen and Marluxia could have had two different reasons to turn Sora into a puppet!”

Axel thought for a minute about what Saix suggested. A tiny “Oh,” was all he could muster.

“Axel, I swear, I– ”

“You _ordered_ me to kill him!”

“Based on your _crappy_ intelligence!”

At last Axel finally just shrugged. “Oh well. I always hated him anyway.”

Saix felt a rising annoyance at Axel’s nonchalant attitude. “Axel, I don’t think you quite appreciate the gravity of the situation we’re in,” he said through gritted teeth. “You _do_ realize this could make _us_ look like traitors.”

“You know what? I’ll just _tell_ Xemnas that Vexen admitted to being part of Marluxia’s little faction right before he died. It’s not like anyone can refute that.”

“You’re going to lie to him?” Saix asked skeptically.

“Why not?”

Saix hesitated. The sincerity in Axel’s voice suddenly made this suggestion the only credible choice they had. The fallout, however, would be too great if anyone were to see through Axel’s charade or if they were able to poke holes in his story. “Do me a favor, then,” Saix said uneasily, “do not include my name in any of that. It’s not like _I_ had knowledge of Vexen’s intentions.”

Axel grinned in agreement. “Your name will never come up,” he promised.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I added yet more reasons why Vexen's death was necessary, to include a way for introducing Roxas. Yes, I realize that Roxas actually co-existed with the awake Sora at some point in the canon, but this never really made that much sense to me (as if anything in Kingdom Hearts does, really).


	10. Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel and Saix engage in a power struggle.

The next morning, Xemnas told Saix to meet him in his chambers. There was a terrible knot in Saix’s stomach as he imagined all the things that Xemnas wanted to talk to him about. He imagined Xemnas reminding Saix that he had told him of Vexen’s intention with Sora, so why did he let him get him killed anyway? Or perhaps Axel had already killed Vexen just before Saix spoke with Xemnas. That sounded like an appealing explanation, but the problem was Saix went straightaway to Xemnas as soon as he dismissed Axel to his orders…

Saix was still rehearsing the ideal scenario when he walked into Xemnas’ chambers. He tried to read Xemnas’ expression, but he appeared stoic as always. “How is the Replica Program coming along?” Xemnas asked.

“Hmm? Oh, it’s coming. The husk has luckily accepted the genetic code.”

“Good. Then all that’s left is to eradicate Sora’s defected Nobody.”

“Of course, my liege. I will get Axel on it right away.”

“Yes. Axel…”

Saix paused when he heard Xemnas linger on that name. “Sir?” Saix inquired when Xemnas remained silent.

“He is quite upset over the fact that he had lost Sora. Tell him not to fret about it. Soon, it will be a moot point anyway.”

Saix exhaled in relief. Xemnas was none the wiser. Saix went downstairs and opened the door to Axel’s room. “Axel,” he called out.

“Don’t you ever knock?” Axel grumbled. He was lying flat on his back in bed, still sore from the day before. He had no elixir that he could use now that Vexen was gone, and Zexion was still trying to figure out the exact formula, since Vexen never wrote it down.

“You have a mission,” Saix said coolly. He had once again resumed his steely demeanor.

Axel found this very off-putting. “So soon? I thought after everything that happened last night, I’d at least earn a vacation.”

“Fighting is not involved in your mission. It should be really easy, but you do have to go back to Castle Oblivion.”

Axel glared at Saix. All he wanted to do at that moment was relax or sleep and not think about any more missions for the time being, least of all none in Castle Oblivion. “I want a raise.”

“Denied.”

“Fine, then I’ll go ask Xemnas.” Axel quickly got up and proceeded to walk out the door.

“He’s not involved in those trivial matters.” Saix seized Axel by the arm and pulled him back in.

“Hey! What gives?” Axel cried angrily.

“Don’t _toy_ with me, Axel! I’m not in the mood!”

But Axel continued to struggle until it got to the point where he summoned his chakrams and turned around to smack Saix with them. To his surprise, he came face-to-face with the edge of Saix’s Luna claymore, which Saix held with one hand while still retaining Axel with the other. “So that’s Saix’s power,” Axel could not help but think to himself despite his anger, as he had never seen Saix in combat before. Axel sneered in response. “The moon can only reflect the light that the sun gives off,” he stated dryly.

“Axel, if you are seriously comparing yourself to the sun, it will serve you well to remember this: A star shines brightest at its death. It makes no difference to the constellations.” Axel jerked his arm out of Saix’s grasp. This time, Saix did not try to hold him back. He quickly regained his composure as he explained to Axel calmly, “You are to go to Castle Oblivion, to the Chamber of Repose. There, you will find a pod with the door wide open. Sora’s Nobody resides inside. He is deceased. You are to therefore destroy it at once.”

“Sounds like just busy work to me,” Axel muttered before slipping out the door.

xXx

Saix just knew that Axel was going to retaliate in some shape or form. Their feuds had always been on the petty side of things. If Axel hated his mission, he might send a report back late or he might send it back sloppy, but he would always send one. Defying orders was something entirely new, so when the time came, Saix was not sure how to handle it. He could not bring it to Xemnas’ attention; he would not dare to. It would just make Saix look incompetent at best, but at worst…

In the most technical terms, Axel was a traitor. He had proven that he could be deceptive, and now he was refusing orders. For all that, Saix could easily turn Axel in, and Axel would quickly become eradicated. But Saix could not bring himself to do this despite everything. He could not explain his own reasoning, for it was too complicated.

Saix was grinding his teeth when he came to Xemnas to let him know that there had been a change in plans. “My lord, it turns out that Sora’s Nobody is indeed alive,” Saix announced as evenly as he could. “He… opened his eyes.” Axel was being purposefully dense. He refused to kill Sora’s Nobody on the sole ground that he had opened his eyes, and was ergo, alive. Saix had insisted to Axel that the fact that he opened his eyes did not mean anything, but Axel countered that Saix’s order was to eliminate a _deceased_ Nobody, therefore he could not carry out his orders. Axel was just being cheeky.

“If he is of no use to us, what does it matter?” Xemnas asked coolly.

“I agree, my lord. That is why I am giving him three days’ time to show that he can be operational, or he will be eliminated.”

“Why such leeway?”

“There’s the matter of the puppet,” Saix explained lamely. “It is not operational either. And we do not even know… if my Replica Program actually works.” Saix had to swallow his pride on that one.

“This is true,” Xemnas quietly conceded. “All right. Let’s give it three days.”

xXx


	11. Number 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas enters the picture

The three days came and went as quickly as molasses runs down a wall. It was very slow, tedious. While on the one hand, there was decidedly less drama without Axel around, on the other, Saix continued to feel the tension anyway as he had to resist the urge _not_ to go running to Castle Oblivion and see for himself what progress was being made. The suspense was killing him. When at last the third day approached, Saix practically flew to Castle Oblivion to check in on Axel. It was not a moment too soon. Axel was an absolute mess, his hair all over the place, his face streaked with grease, and huge, dark circles under his eyes; and yet he could not look any happier. Sora’s Nobody was standing right in front of Axel and looking up at Saix. Axel had his hands on the boy’s shoulders like he was formally presenting him to Saix. “There, you see! I told you! I told you!” Axel beamed, grinning from ear to ear. It did not sound like much of a gloat so much as it was an expression of relief, as if his entire credibility rested on this boy’s awakening.

“Yes, yes, so you did,” Saix mumbled with a dismissive wave. Still, something seemed a little off. This was the first time he got a really good look at Sora’s Nobody. The boy looked not that much older than Sora, had big blue eyes just like Sora, but blonde hair while Sora’s was brown. He thought he looked a little like Sora in a way, but there was something else he could not quite put his finger on. “Well, there’s no use delaying this; we may as well go to Xemnas at once,” Saix said, his eyes all the while still fixated on the boy.

Axel led the boy with Saix to The Castle That Never Was, where they promptly met with Xemnas at his chambers. Xemnas appeared quite intrigued. Being easily about a foot taller than the boy, Xemnas bent down to meet him at eye level. “What do you know?” Xemnas asked him.

The boy just stared at him blankly.

“Do you remember your true name?”

The boy said nothing.

“Would you like to have meaning?”

The boy cocked his head slightly and nodded.

“This I will give you, as well as a new name.” Xemnas announced that his name shall be Roxas.

“Roxas,” the boy repeated softly.

“Very well.” Xemnas straightened out to address Axel. “Clean yourself up, then go and show our new member around. He is Member Number 13.”

Axel appeared quite puzzled over this. “But we don’t even _have_ thirteen members.”

“No, we don’t…yet. This boy, however, is special, and as such, a recycled number is not befitting him. Because of him, our organization will now be called Organization XIII.”

xXx

The next day, Saix handed everyone their orders as usual, but he did not have anything to give Axel. “Your job is to just watch Roxas,” he explained. Axel was sitting on the couch with Roxas, who had been mindlessly following Axel like a lost puppy ever since his arrival to The Castle That Never Was.

“Watch him? But he’s not _doing_ anything!” Axel protested. “And on top of that, new members can’t even leave the castle for the first few days.”

“Then I guess we know how your day will be. Besides, not that long ago you said you wanted a vacation. Consider this your vacation.” Although Saix delivered his orders with a tone of indifference as he typically does, there was a glint in his eye that made Axel realize that this was actually payback.

Axel snorted just as Saix breezed away. “Looks like I’m on punishment,” Axel muttered, leaning over to Roxas to let him know that he was being addressed. Axel sighed when Roxas offered him no response. “Feel free to chime in at _any_ time. I promise you’re not interrupting me.”

It was not long before Xigbar and Xemnas came over to them. Xigbar seemed to be appraising their newest member. “Hey, doesn’t he look an awful lot like –”

“No,” Xemnas quickly replied.

Xigbar shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He turned to Roxas. “Let’s go, kiddo.”

“Kiddo?” Roxas repeated uncertainly.

“He has a name,” Axel sneered at Xigbar. “Call him Roxas.”

“I’ll call him whatever I want, and he’ll answer! We’re going to be doing some training.”

“What, you mean now?” Axel cried in alarm. “You see that the kid can barely even talk! What makes you think he’s ready to fight?”

Xigbar rolled his eye. “Don’t worry, I promise I’ll treat him ever so gently. You hear that, kiddo? But that doesn’t mean I want _you_ holding back!”

Xigbar turned around and proceeded to walk but then realized that Roxas was still sitting there, unmoved. “Um…” Xigbar looked over to Axel for assistance.

“Roxas, follow him,” Axel directed. Roxas obediently got up and walked up to Xigbar, while Axel trailed behind him. Xigbar just scoffed and shook his head.

All three of them went over to the training room, but Xigbar quickly blocked Axel from passing through the door. “Sorry, fighters only,” Xigbar teased. Before Axel could protest and explain that Roxas was in his charge, Xigbar quickly slammed the door in Axel’s face.

Axel found himself pacing back and forth outside the room for what seemed like an agonizing eternity. What was worse was that he could not hear anything coming from the other side of the door, so it was not like he had any idea what was going on. When at last the door opened, Xigbar emerged with a smug expression. Just as Axel was about to ask how the training went, Xigbar fell flat on his face. Roxas came up from behind. “Xigbar, are you okay?” he asked worriedly. “You told me to _not_ hold back… so I didn’t.”

Axel busted out laughing. “Serves you right, Xiggy,” he snickered, nudging the unconscious man with his foot.

“What happened?” Xemnas suddenly appeared when he heard the commotion.

“Roxas beat Xigbar up,” Axel smirked.

“He did?” Axel could not tell if Xemnas said this out of amusement or alarm. “I will have Lexaeus bring Xigbar back to his room. Meanwhile, you can take Roxas to Twilight Town to buy the ingredients for our elixirs. We ran out again.”

Normally, Axel would scoff at doing such a mundane task, but this time he realized that this was his chance to leave the castle while still complying with orders. Trying his best to restrain his excitement, he nodded his head solemnly while gesturing for Roxas to follow.

xXx

When Axel and Roxas arrived to Twilight Town, they found that they were in the underground tunnels. These were typically used by pedestrians who otherwise did not want to ride the train, which was the only other means of transportation. While they were walking along, Roxas unexpectedly spoke up: “Hey, Axel?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you mean by ‘on punishment’?”

“Oh, that.” He’s asking that question _now_? “Don’t worry about it. I was just joking.”

“I feel like I did something wrong.”

“Oh, no. You did _good_. If anyone was in the wrong, it was Xigbar.”

“Okay.”

As they continued to traverse through the tunnel, Axel noticed that heartless were bubbling up from the ground. “Really?” he sighed in frustration. He immediately summoned his chakrams and turned to Roxas. “Looks like your training is still in process. Do you know what to do?”

“Um, I think so.” Roxas held out his hand and a Keyblade materialized. Axel stared at it for a few seconds before remembering that they were in the middle of a fight. Together, they slashed at the heartless. Whenever Axel vanquished one, it receded back into the darkness; but whenever Roxas vanquished a heartless, a heart floated up in the air.

“Hey Roxas… can I see that?” They had just finished taking care of the last heartless, and Axel was burning with curiosity over the Keyblade.

Roxas passed Axel his Keyblade. Axel was only able to feel the weight of it and turn it over for a brief second before it disappeared from his grasp and reappeared into Roxas’ hand.

“Oh,” Axel pouted. So much for that. Roxas just shrugged hopelessly. They eventually made it out of the tunnels and into the marketplace, where they bought their ingredients from a vendor.

“I guess we need to return to the castle now, huh?” Roxas asked, looking at Axel for confirmation.

“Yeah…” Axel suddenly felt himself blush, although he did not know why he was getting embarrassed. “So… what are you doing when we get back?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll just go to my room.”

“Lame!”

“Huh?”

“Listen, since you’re my charge, I’m going to let you in on a little something.” Axel and Roxas walked over to the ice-cream vendor.

By this point, the vendor was so familiar with Axel, that before he even arrived, she whipped out a sea salt ice-cream stick. “Oh… so you have a friend now?” the vendor asked flatly.

“Hardy har. Just give me two of them,” he snapped back.

She handed him another one as he gave her money. Axel then took Roxas up to the top of the Clock Tower, where they sat on the ledge and stared at the sunset. “This is nice,” Roxas said.

“Yeah…” Axel replied dreamily, reaching out to some faraway place in his mind’s eye. He turned to Roxas and noticed that he was just holding his ice-cream in his lap. “You know that thing melts, right? You need to eat it quickly before it becomes a sticky mess.”

“Oh, okay.” Roxas took a huge bite out of his ice-cream bar and immediately made a face. “It’s salty. Oh, wait, no, it’s sweet.” He took another bite and decided that he actually liked it.

“Too bad we can’t bring this to the castle. It’ll just melt on the way over.”

“Well… then can we come here tomorrow?”

“Sure, if time allows.”

When they finished their ice-cream, and the sun had set, they returned to the castle with the ingredients and handed it over to Zexion in the laboratory. “So, how is it coming along? Does it taste better than Vexen’s?” Axel teased.

“I don’t know,” Zexion replied somewhat irritatingly. “I can’t help how it tastes.”

“Why can’t they make it taste like the sea salt ice-cream we had?” Roxas turned to Axel.

Axel nudged Roxas and pulled him away. “Hush! Don’t tell him that!”

“Why not?”

“Look, let’s just keep that between us for now, okay?” Axel hated the idea that someone could encroach into what he considered to be _his_ territory and just ruin it, although for some reason, he did not mind if it were Roxas. Xemnas was spot on when he described Roxas as special. He was not like other Nobodies, not just because he had the power of the Keyblade, but also…

Axel could not put into words how he felt about Roxas but decided that he liked him. Still, Roxas was a work in progress who seemed utterly clueless about how to do anything. At one point, when they were setting up his room the other day, Axel handed Roxas toiletries and other personal items, and told him to put them in his chest. Roxas did not know what a chest was, so Axel described it as a box that typically comes with a lock, and that he should be able to find it at the foot of his bed. Roxas ran out of his room excitedly, still holding onto all of his items, as he declared to Axel that he finally found the chest.

“Okay… so put them in there,” Axel said awkwardly.

“Oh… you mean I should open it?”

“Yes. That is typically what one does with a chest.” Sheesh. This guy was _really_ blank. But perhaps that was not a bad thing. Almost everyone that came to the Organization, although they had no memories to speak of, retained all their personality traits and worldviews from their previous lives. Roxas seemed to be looking at everything through fresh eyes.

Axel decided that he liked Roxas and wanted to make sure that no harm came to him. This was a new feeling for Axel. It was publicly terrifying but privately delightful.

xXx


	12. Back-up Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xigbar sees holes in Xemnas' updated plans; introducing Xion; there's an interloper among us.

Zexion came to Xemnas with a fresh batch of elixir. “It is the best I can do in such a short notice,” he explained by way of apology.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Xemnas replied and dismissed Zexion. He went into Xigbar’s chambers, who was lying in bed and still recovering from his fight with Roxas.

“I can’t believe I just got my ass handed to me by that _pipsqueak_!” griped Xigbar. “If _that’s_ defective, I don’t want to know what he’s like at restored power. But I told you that I recognized him – he’s the Keyblade Master.”

“He’s the Nobody of one,” Xemnas corrected him, appearing quite pleased. He handed Xigbar a vial of elixir. “I must say, this is actually going better than our original plan.”

“Is it, though? You know, Sora is still somewhere out there, and quite frankly, I’ve never heard of a Keyblade Master using the Power of Darkness!”

“Shows how little you know.”

“What are you saying? _You_ know?”

Xemnas just offered a sly grin.

Xigbar frowned as he scrutinized him for a while, in pure disbelief. “Okay, so don’t tell me. But consider this: as a Keyblade wielder, Roxas can use the Power of Light. What if Roxas chooses Light over Darkness and against us? He’s not without willpower… I think.”

“I’ve considered all possibilities. That is why our puppet will be quite useful. Gather yourself together; we will see how Saix’s project is coming along.”

Xemnas and Xigbar joined Saix in Chamber X to check in on the latest development with Saix’s puppet. The puppet was roughly the same size as Roxas, if not a little smaller. It was wearing the same black coat as all the Organization members. It had its hood over its face, but when it looked up there were no features to distinguish except a mouth. Everything else was just shadows. Saix stood next to the puppet, clearly appraising his own work. He turned to Xemnas and Xigbar in a detached manner. “Well?” he said.

“The essence of a Nobody – how quaint!” Xigbar commented.

“If we as Nobodies are not meant to exist, how much more imaginary is this puppet!” Xemnas replied. Like the imaginary number – _i_ or No. _i_ – so Xemnas declared the puppet to be and when he arranged the letters with the Recusant Sigil – _X_ – he produced the name Xion. The puppet Xion just looked at them blankly, not unlike its source material, Roxas.

“So you created a puppet out of a Nobody – big whoop!” Xigbar quipped. “The real question is: Does it work the way it’s supposed to?” Xigbar produced his Arrowguns and postured at Xion. “All right, little puppet – let’s see what you got!” Xigbar fired one of his Arrowguns at Xion, who quickly flipped out of the way. When it stuck out its hand, it materialized what looked like a Keyblade. It screamed and then rushed at Xigbar, who was able to block its impending blows by using his Arrowgun like a sword. “Hey, hey! This puppet’s got _spunk_!” Xigbar beamed. “ _And_ it produced a Keyblade! Nice work, Saix! Maybe we can make a whole team of them, huh?”

“I doubt it,” Saix replied dryly, not even acknowledging the praise he was given. “The puppet is not quite the replica of Roxas that I want it to be. Further replication may cause its DNA coding to completely destabilize.”

“Maybe that’s why Roxas acts like such a dummy,” Xigbar smirked.

“So instead of having one good Keyblade wielder, we could be stuck with three imbeciles,” Saix agreed.

“Then we need Xion and Roxas to be together, see who will influence who,” Xemnas concluded.

xXx

For the first time ever, Xemnas called a meeting for the entire organization. They were to gather at the meeting chambers, also called The Round Room due to its circular appearance. There was literally nothing in there except really tall, throne-like pedestals. The only way anyone can even sit down is if they were to teleport themselves up there. Xemnas, of course, sat at the highest pedestal. Everyone else’s had varying degrees of heights. Because of their numbers, Axel was sitting next to Saix. He had one hand over his mouth while the other hand was cupping his elbow by way of support. One could suppose that he was deep in critical thought, but in reality, Axel was trying to hide the fact that he was very, very tired. He hated that they had woken everyone up so early in the morning. He went from lying in his nice warm bed to sitting in a very hard chair inside a freezing room. Saix sat as cool as a cucumber, with one leg crossed over the other and his hands clasping onto the top knee. Now that his project was over, he felt like he could finally relax and get back to the way things were. There was still a matter of how well Xion will perform, but Saix figured that he could worry about this later. 

Xemnas looked around the room to see all who remained of their Organization. He was sitting right across from Roxas, who just stared blankly up at Xemnas. “Good morning, comrades,” Xemnas announced in an unusually pleasant manner. “As you can see, we are very close to reaching our goal of thirteen members. The time will come quite rapidly, and soon, we will be in a position where we can finally complete Kingdom Hearts and thereby get hearts of our very own. I realize that the past several months have been quite trying for some of you, and on that note, I want to let you know that I especially appreciate your patience. Most of you have met Number 13, Roxas, our Keyblade bearer. He has been essential to our missions. There will be another one like him that will join us. Everyone, I want you to meet Member Number 14, Xion!”

Just then, Xion wordlessly stepped up into the middle of the circle and looked around at all the faces with eyes cast down upon it. “Welcome,” everyone greeted, but not in unison. Axel could not help but think that they were like a cult now more than ever. Number 14. That was weird considering the fact that Xemnas had just named their organization after Roxas’ number – Organization 13. They could easily recycle the other numbers that are vacant, but for whatever reason, Xemnas had decided against it. Roxas looked at Xion quite curiously. He felt that there was something oddly familiar about this newest member. He never knew that he could say that about anyone.

xXx

After the meeting, Saix accosted Axel, who was standing with Roxas. “Good news, Axel: you are relieved of your babysitting duties,” Saix announced.

“Oh yeah?” Axel replied, rolling his eyes. He highly doubted that anything Saix described as good news for Axel would actually benefit him.

“Of course, Roxas will be doing missions on his own from now on.”

Axel balked. Roxas had only been with the Organization for seven days, and already they want to throw him to the wolves? He could not help but think about that incident with the chest. Axel scratched the back of his head and turned to Roxas. “Do you think you’re ready?”

Roxas just stared at Axel with a blank expression. “I don’t know.”

“Come now, Roxas,” Saix derided, “you’re not going to go very far in this world if you need Axel to hold your hand for everything. Besides, Xion will be joining you in your missions.”

“Xion?”

“Xion has a Keyblade, and you have a Keyblade. I need you to teach it how to harness those powers. Do you understand?"

Roxas nodded.

Saix beckoned for Xion, who immediately approached and joined Roxas. “Your missions from now on will deal exclusively with vanquishing the heartless. You might have a different mission here or there, but in general, expect that to be your sole task.” Saix handed Roxas and Xion their report. They nodded their acknowledgement in unison before disappearing into a dark portal. Saix almost laughed at the sight of this. Xion really was Roxas’ replica. Recovering himself, he then turned to Axel, who had a rather disturbed expression on his face. “Oh, don’t be so sour,” Saix tutted. “You’ll be too busy with your _own_ missions.”

“I’m not sour,” Axel muttered, but it was with such weak conviction that it sounded more like a question than an assertion.

“Well then look lively. Yours is an important assignment. There’s an interloper among us.”

Axel snorted incredulously. “You mean someone actually _wants_ to join our organization? _And_ we’re refusing them? That somehow sounds backwards.”

“Believe me, they have no intention of joining. Lexaeus caught our intruder spying on Castle Oblivion, watching our comings and goings. He tried to overtake him, but it looks like the intruder was able to use the Power of Darkness and disappeared into a dark portal before he could catch him.”

Axel sighed. “I take it that you think you know who the intruder is: it’s the other hero, right?”

“Perhaps. For it to be coincidental that such a figure should come along shortly after we lose Sora is unlikely. This of course would be devastating, though. He is clearly not a Nobody. He does not share in the same stakes we do. And yet… he can use the Power of Darkness. He needs to be captured, preferably alive, but do what you must otherwise in order to ensure that he does not jeopardize our operations.”

Axel groaned at the task ahead of him. He had never seen this other hero, but Marluxia did. Maybe that was why Marluxia said that there was more to Kingdom Hearts than what Xemnas told them, because he probably witnessed its powers at work in the other hero.

xXx


	13. Sea Salt Trio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas and Xion hang out; Axel later joins them.

For the first time, Roxas was without Axel to navigate with. He was nervous, as he had never been on his own before. He knew that when in doubt, he could always return to the castle. In the meantime, now he had this new recruit to deal with, and he was not sure he was the right person to teach someone anything. Still, when they went on their missions, he found it to be instinctual that he knew exactly what to do with the heartless and how to wield the Keyblade. He noticed how Xion wordlessly mimicked every move Roxas made. He did not need to tell Xion what to do; Xion was merely copying him. They had been going on a few missions together for a while, when one day after their mission was over, Roxas told Xion that it was time to go back to the castle. “Go ahead of me,” he said. “I have somewhere I want to go first.”

“R…R-Roxas.”

Roxas started. He had never heard Xion speak until that moment. It was the voice of a girl. “What did you say?” he asked.

“Roxas,” she repeated, this time with more confidence. “That’s your name, isn’t it?” She pulled down her hood to reveal her face. Her eyes were large and blue, just like Roxas’. She had black hair, cropped short and framing her small, oval face. Xion reminded him of someone, but he could not figure out who. It was like a far off memory. She smiled sweetly at him. “Where are you going?” she asked innocently.

“Oh. Ummm…” He was planning on going to the Clock Tower in Twilight Town to eat sea salt ice-cream. He remembered Axel saying, though, that he preferred that Roxas kept it to himself. However, Roxas had not seen Axel for a long time, and he was tired of being at the Clock Tower alone. “Say… do you want to come with me? I’m just going to get a little snack.”

“Okay,” she said eagerly.

The two of them went to Twilight Town, where they bought their ice-cream and then spent the rest of the evening looking out at the view from the Clock Tower. They were able to see the entire town from up there, and beyond that, the ocean. They sat in silence for some time as they watched the sun go down, causing the sky to change colors from red, to orange, and then purple when the sun disappeared from the horizon. “Axel took me here a few times after our missions,” Roxas sighed. “But I don’t know where he is now.”

“You two must be really close,” Xion commented wistfully. “I don’t have anybody like that in the Organization.”

“Oh. Well, you and I can come here together if you want. I’m sure Axel won’t mind… when he comes back.” It never occurred to Roxas that Xion felt lonely. Up until that point, Roxas felt the same way. He figured that it was easier to feel lonely together with someone than by himself.

xXx

Axel was beside himself ever since he was assigned his mission. He felt like he was going nowhere, like he was just chasing a ghost. Their interloper had been very elusive since his presence was first discovered. Saix even somehow managed to get Demyx to tag team with Axel in hopes of getting the job done faster. One time, Axel and Demyx managed to find their target in Twilight Town. They ran after him, but he kept disappearing, only to reappear in a random location. Demyx summoned the water nobodies to rush at him and was initially successful at knocking him down, but then he disappeared into a dark portal.

“This guy is toying with us!” Axel grunted. “He _wants_ us to chase him!”

“For what purpose?” Demyx panted. They had been literally running around for hours.

“I don’t know… maybe he’s trying to distract us. At any rate, I’m calling this in as a failed mission.”

“Aw, what?” Demyx cried in exasperation. “The one mission I got wrangled in, and now you’re just going to give up?”

“Yeah. Or at least, I’m giving up how we go about it,” Axel explained before disappearing into a dark portal.

xXx

When Axel showed up at the Clock Tower with his sea salt ice-cream, he was surprised to see Roxas there… with company. “Hey,” Axel called out.

Roxas spun around and looked at Axel in surprise. “Axel!” he exclaimed. “Where _were_ you? You had me worried!”

“Worried?” Axel did not expect Roxas to say that. “About what? You know we are on different missions now.”

“Well, yeah, but I haven’t seen or heard from you in days!”

“Roxas, it’s not uncommon for members to be gone for days at a time and not tell anyone. The only two members you need to report back to are Xemnas and Saix. Got it memorized?”

“Oh. So did you already report back to them yet?”

“Nah. I figure that it’s better to just prolong the suspense.” Axel plopped down right next to Roxas and gave him a twisted smile. He then looked inquiringly past Roxas to the other side of him, and with an arch of his eyebrow, he waited for Roxas to say something.

“Oh!” Roxas exclaimed, remembering himself. “Um, so anyway, I’ve been bringing Xion here every day since you’ve been gone. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No… I guess not,” he muttered right before chomping into his ice-cream. “Ow!” He had bit down so hard, that the coldness of the treat caused nerve pain. He sucked at his teeth trying to control the pain. Why did it have to hurt so much?

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” Xion said, leaning forward so that she can see Axel over Roxas. “He’s talked a lot about you.”

“Oh, well that’s nice,” Axel replied dryly, still bitter about his teeth. He took another bite of his ice-cream, this time with more caution. “So… I guess you’re a Keyblade wielder too, like Roxas?” He glanced over to Xion. He did not really notice much about her the first time, since she and Roxas were quickly ushered away to their missions not long after she was introduced to the Organization. Although he was not sure what exactly he expected from Xion, he certainly did not expect her to be a girl. She definitely seemed nicer than Larxene, anyway. He had no other opinion of her, as she had her hood over her head, completely covering her face but the mouth. The rest of her looked like a shadow.

“Yeah… but tomorrow, Saix wants me to be on my own,” she explained. “It’ll be my first mission by myself.”

“Nervous?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I just hope I don’t screw anything up.”

“Nah, I’m sure you’ll be fine. You can’t be worse than Roxas, anyway. The kid was a walking zombie his first week.”

“Oh, thanks a lot! I’m right here!” Roxas elbowed Axel playfully in the ribs.

Axel was laughing so much that it did not take much for him to topple over. He got right back up and stretched. “Well, there’s no point in keeping them waiting, I guess. I’m sure Saix will be thrilled to see me.”

xXx


	14. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel fails at his mission; later on, so does Xion.

When Axel presented to headquarters to inform Saix of his failed mission, Saix looked greatly displeased and said so to Axel.

“What do you want me to do about it?” cried Axel angrily. “Sending Demyx with me was hardly reinforcement!”

“Maybe if you didn’t stuff yourself with so much sea salt ice-cream, you’d have more energy in your missions!” Saix retorted.

Axel gasped. “You _know_ about that?”

“Your former shadow mentioned it.”

Axel sighed in frustration. He was going to have to give Roxas a talking to. “Look, that has nothing to do with it!” Axel insisted hastily. “If we’re going to find this guy, we oughta try to find his home base. You know, maybe travel the worlds Sora has been to, see what the citizens know about him.”

Saix mulled it over. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Okay, you got it. But _don’t_ use this opportunity as an excuse to goof off. There needs to be progress.”

Axel casually saluted Saix before disappearing into a dark portal.

xXx

Axel spent the next few days traveling to different worlds that Sora had been to. It was not as fun as he thought it would be. He had been subjected to extreme weather conditions, hostile creatures, and different laws of physics. Those who did know Sora and who were willing to talk with Axel were unable to provide him with any information about Sora’s origins. It was like he appeared out of nowhere one day, not unlike how Axel felt about his own origins. He wanted to go to Saix and tell him that once again, he gave up; but first, he was going to go to his favorite place, the Clock Tower, and enjoy his sea salt ice-cream. He decided that he did not care what Saix had to say about it. As he sat on the ledge, staring at the sunset and ruminating over his ice-cream, Roxas suddenly popped up. “I was wondering if you were ever going to show up again,” Roxas said sadly.

Axel was a little taken aback. He was not used to Nobodies acting so concerned. “Yeah, well, Saix has me running ragged,” Axel muttered. “What about you?”

Roxas sat down next to Axel with his stick of sea salt ice-cream. “My missions aren’t that bad,” he replied with a wry grin. “I think I’m lucky that they’re all one-and-done kind of missions. But you know, Xion’s missions are like mine, and I haven’t seen her in a while either.”

“You mean she’s still on her first solo mission?” Axel shifted uneasily, as he did not know what to say or suggest. There was a certain heaviness to his chest that was making him feel uncomfortable. Finally, he offered, “Well… maybe we oughta see Saix and ask him about it?” This made Roxas perk up a little, who nodded at the suggestion.

The two finished their ice-creams and returned to the castle. As it turned out, they did not need to ask Saix where Xion was because she was already with him, standing in the middle of the hallway. It did not take long, however, for them to realize that they had walked into the middle of an intense conversation.

“Saix, just give me another chance,” Xion pleaded in earnest.

“You had _one_ job, and you screwed that up,” Saix replied coldly. “You are… a mistake.”

Although Xion’s face was completely covered, her devastation was quite clear as her voice trembled meekly through her hood, “So what can I do?”

“Nothing. As of right now, I have no use for you. When I have something, I’ll let you know.”

Xion nodded to Saix rigidly before quitting his presence. When she turned around, she was mortified to see that Roxas and Axel had witnessed everything. She stood frozen for a few seconds, like a deer caught in the headlights, and then suddenly took off. Roxas ran after her, leaving Axel and Saix alone. Axel scratched the back of his head; that uncomfortable, heavy feeling had returned. “I don’t know what she did,” Axel stumbled over his words, “but it couldn’t be worse than the times I failed my missions.”

Saix turned to Axel contemptuously. Although he was not fazed by the fact that Axel played audience to Xion’s dress down, he was still annoyed that Axel felt compelled to offer an opinion in her defense. “The difference is that Xion had no right to join our ranks.”

“Who decided that?” Axel balked. “ _You_?”

“Axel, there are thirteen seats in the meeting chambers. Xion is Number 14.”

“Well, outlier or not, she’s still one of us. Besides, unlike everybody else, it looks like she actually _wants_ to please you. That’s got to count for something.”

Saix pursed his lips together in annoyance. Although Axel meant for that last comment to be an insult, deep down, Saix knew that he was right. “At best, Xion will prove just as vital as Roxas, if not more so. At worst, she is an obstacle. In time, we will see where she falls within that range.”

xXx

For the next several days, Xion avoided Roxas and Axel as much as she could. She would sit in a dark corner by herself for the morning meetings and never stayed for breakfast. Every time Roxas approached her to invite her for ice-cream, she would hastily explain that she was busy with training before taking off. Roxas confided in Axel that he felt like he had offended Xion despite the fact that he had only been trying to be helpful. Axel explained that women had secret buttons that only men were capable of pushing. These buttons are totally random, and they never know when they have pushed those buttons until it is too late.

“Then what do I do?” Roxas asked.

“She wants her space, right? Give it to her. She’ll eventually come around.”

Roxas was not sure what “eventually” meant, but with extreme reluctance he agreed to leave her alone. That “eventually” came when, one day, Xion showed up in the lounge without her hood on and smiled at Roxas. “Morning!” she greeted him warmly.

“Xion!” Roxas exclaimed in surprise. “I take that you… feel better?” He remembered what Axel said about the buttons.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she replied with a smile.

“So, would you like to go for ice-cream later?” Roxas asked blushingly.

“Yeah, okay,” she agreed. “My mission is at the edge of Twilight Town, so I can easily make it when I’m done.”

Roxas was overjoyed. He was so excited that he rushed through his mission, and when he arrived to the Clock Tower later that evening, he saw that he was the first one there. He even had a second ice-cream stick for Xion, but as time went on, it slowly started to melt and he ended up eating both of them.

“You’re early.”

Roxas spun around to see Axel just standing there, but no sign of Xion. “No, you’re just late,” he sighed.

Axel sat next to Roxas and noted the two empty sticks clutched in one hand. “Were you that hungry?” Axel laughed.

“No, I was waiting for Xion. I don’t get it! She should be here by now!” Roxas turned around from where Axel had emerged, hoping to see that Xion was somehow just lagging behind.

“She told you she was coming?”

“Yeah! She promised she would after her mission. Axel, what if she’s in trouble?”

“Well, she could’ve just blown you off,” Axel shrugged.

“No! That’s not like her! Something’s wrong!”

Axel was going to suggest that they should just leave it alone, but Roxas looked so upset that he decided to change course. “Do you know where she is?”

“In the woods, just outside from here.”

“All right, let’s go find her.”

“Okay,” Roxas said, smiling in relief.

The two of them walked to the outskirts of Twilight Town, where they encountered a hole in the wall and beyond that a dense forest. Although the forest itself was not very big, finding Xion still felt like finding a needle in a haystack, as they were peering through every thicket, in case she was somewhere passed out on the ground. When they came upon a clearing, they saw a diminutive figure in a black robe running. It was Xion.

“Xion!” Roxas called out.

Just as she turned to his direction, a monster appeared out of thin air. It looked like a giant lizard, but in reality, it was a heartless. It smacked Xion so hard, that she went flying and landed roughly several feet away.

“Xion!” Roxas cried again. He was trying to run towards her, but Axel quickly detained him.

“No, Roxas! We have to take care of _that_ first!”

Together, Roxas and Axel fought the heartless. It was significantly stronger than previous ones they had encountered. What was worse, it had the ability to turn invisible for a short period of time. If they did not attack it in its invisible form right away, it would re-materialize and inflict significant damage to them with a rough lashing of its tongue. Axel summoned assassin nobodies to overwhelm the creature. They were numerous and effectively covered the heartless. Roxas ran at the heartless and struck it several times with his Keyblade. The heartless was finally defeated, deflating underneath the shell of nobodies, which also quickly disintegrated once the heart floated up in the air.

Roxas ran over to Xion, anxiously shaking her unresponsive body. “Xion! Xion, are you okay? Please answer!”

Axel pulled Roxas aside and picked Xion up. “She’s just knocked out,” he explained as reassuringly as he could. “We’ll bring her back to her room and let her rest.”

xXx

When they arrived to headquarters, they encountered a very irritated Saix. “What happened? Did it break again?” he scowled, pointing at Xion, who was lying limp in Axel’s arms. The X on his face looked very grotesque, like a fresh branding on the skin – red, swollen.

“She’s not an ‘it’!” Roxas cried angrily.

“Lay off, Saix,” Axel grumbled, compulsively tearing his eyes away from Saix’s face to avoid that horrid scar. “That was a particularly strong heartless. It took both of us just to bring it down.”

“Both of you?” Saix repeated in consternation. His angry expression suddenly appeared more troubled. “You mean Xion did not do anything?”

“Well… no…” Axel admitted reluctantly.

Saix sighed deeply in disappointment. “All right. Just put her in her room, and… I guess we’ll do nothing for now.”

“What do you mean?” Roxas asked in alarm. “You won’t hurt her, will you?”

Saix sneered at Roxas. “That’s enough out of you! What we do or don’t do with her is none of your business. You are dismissed. And Axel, as soon as you put Xion away, I’ll need to speak with you – in private.”

Axel rolled his eyes, but nonetheless, he did as he was told. When Axel entered Saix’s chambers, Saix had his back turned to him as he faced the window and stared out to Kingdom Hearts. “Why are you interfering?” Saix asked without moving from his position.

“Huh? Interfering? What do you mean?”

“You did someone else’s mission, and I bet you didn’t even complete your own!”

“Well, Roxas was concerned, and –”

“Concerned!” At that moment, Saix whipped around, his eyes large with bewilderment. “Axel, since when is it part of the Organization’s problem to be ‘concerned’ with any of its members? There’s no room for it. All it does is stray us away from our primary objective. Clearly, if Xion cannot complete a mission for whatever reason, then she is no good to us.”

“So what are you going to do? Eradicate her?” Axel asked hotly.

“No… at least not yet.” Saix seemed unsure as he momentarily glanced away from Axel. He had worked too hard on the Replica Program and on Xion to simply dispose of her. “I will handle Xion. But remind Roxas not to step out of line again.”

xXx

Later on that night, Axel checked in on Roxas in his room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his hands clasped tightly in his lap, eyes cast down. He reminded Axel of how Roxas used to look when he first started. Axel wondered if Roxas was regressing. He slowly approached Roxas with his arms crossed. He was uncertain about how he was supposed to react, as he did not even know what role he was supposed to play in this situation. “Did you just come back from seeing Xion?” he asked.

Roxas nodded his head. “She has not woken up yet since we found her in the woods.”

Axel scratched the back of his head fretfully. “Listen, Roxas… the way you talked to Saix earlier, you were not supposed to do that. You were out of line.”

Roxas suddenly jerked his head up to meet Axel’s eyes with a look of defiance. “No, Saix was out of line! He shouldn’t have –”

“No, _you_ were!” Axel persisted. “Look, you need to be careful how you behave around certain members here. If you cross the wrong one and at the wrong time, something bad could happen to you.”

Roxas was stunned. It never occurred to him that anyone in the Organization would want to cause harm to him. “So, what do I do now?” he asked.

“Nothing. From now on, just keep your lips sealed around other members. You never know what kind of information they can use against you. You’re important. But as important as you are, you’re not above reprimand.”

Roxas nodded in quiet concession. “Do you think Xion will be reprimanded?”

“From the way Saix reacted, I doubt it. Xion will be okay.”

If those words came from anyone else, Roxas would have had a hard time believing them, but he felt reassured because it came from Axel. He knew that he could rely on Axel to always have his back and keep him out of trouble.

xXx


	15. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas and Axel run into a stranger.

The next day, Roxas and Axel met at Twilight Town market place after their respective missions. Roxas told Axel that Xion was still out of commission and wondered when they will see her again?

Axel shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Go get your ice-cream; I’ll meet you at the Clock Tower.”

Roxas ran to the ice-cream vendor and eagerly handed her his money in exchange for his sea salt ice-cream. It was the one thing that Roxas looked forward to the most throughout his tenure at the Organization. As he turned around and was about to run to the Clock Tower, he did not realize that there was someone in close proximity to him, so that he roughly bumped into the stranger and dropped his ice-cream. The stranger reflexively caught the ice-cream before it could fall to the ground and handed the unharmed stick back to Roxas.

“Thank you,” Roxas said. He looked up to see who he was expressing gratitude to. It was a rather tall man, who face was covered in a mask. He wore a large-brimmed hat and a cape.

“It is no problem,” the man replied. He had a deep, authoritative voice that in any other circumstance could sound frightening, but in this instance, he showed a particularly kind disposition to Roxas. “Do you come here often?”

“I…”

Before Roxas was able to get his thoughts together, Axel suddenly popped up. “Do you need something?” he asked the man through gritted teeth. He grabbed Roxas by the shoulder and pulled him away from their newfound acquaintance.

“I’m sorry,” offered the man. “I did not mean to bother you. I was only trying to help.”

“Okay, so you’ve helped him,” Axel replied brusquely. “Good for you. We’ll be on our way.”

“Axel, why are you being mean to him?” Roxas said as Axel tugged at him.

Axel sighed in frustration. “Roxas, don’t you know that you’re not supposed to talk to strangers?”

“Why?” Roxas inquired blankly.

“He’s right, you know,” agreed the man. “But we’re not strangers anymore now, are we? My name is Diz.”

Axel scoffed. “That’s just as believable as your whole get-up. But seriously, we have to be on our way. Thank you for your help.”

Roxas watched as Diz waved to them while Axel more or less hauled Roxas off in a huff. “Axel, I think he was just being nice,” Roxas opined when they arrived to the Clock Tower.

“Well, I don’t. I watched you from up here. He seemed inordinately interested in you. The minute you turned around, he moved in. It was not by chance that you bumped into him.”

“I don’t get it; why would he be interested in me?”

“I don’t know. My point is, you can’t just go around trusting random people you meet. I mean, I just got finished telling you the other day that not everyone is looking out for your best interest – or have you forgotten that already? Get it memorized.”

Roxas stared at his ice-cream as he pondered Axel’s words. “So… who _can_ I trust?”

Axel shrugged. “No one, I guess – except yourself.”

“Well… I trust _you_. You’re the only one who has taught me anything, and you always look out for me.”

Axel paused for a minute. It was true that Axel had played a mentorship role to Roxas, even long after his babysitting duties were over. “Yeah, okay. I _guess_ you can trust me.” Axel gave Roxas a sly look.

“What does _that_ mean?” Roxas laughed.

“It _means_ that it is a safe bet that you can trust me, but I won’t promise anything.”

“Gee, paranoid much?”

“Roxas, look at what we do, and then come back to me with that question.”

They laughed again in response. It was not even funny, but somehow they found humor in it. Together they sat and stared at the sunset. It was not a bad way to end the day.

xXx


	16. In Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diz becomes upset that they cannot put Sora back together again so easily. Namine expresses feelings. Saix becomes disturbed.

Although Diz suspected for a while that Roxas was Sora’s Nobody, all traces of doubt were eliminated when he met him in person. Roxas imbued Sora’s spirit; and yet, there was something missing. Diz met with Namine where they were holding Sora’s body in suspended animation. It was necessary to put him to sleep in order to repair his fractured mind. Namine looked up at Diz hopefully when he arrived in the room. “Well?” she said anxiously.

Diz shook his head. “I found him, but I was not able to get a good reading. He does not have Sora’s memories.”

Namine sighed hopelessly. “But how is that possible?”

“His Nobody is also fractured, I’m afraid.”

Namine bowed her head in despair. “This is all my fault,” she lamented.

“Yes, it is,” Diz said so bluntly, that it caused Namine to look up in surprise. Diz just glared at her. “Do not misunderstand me, Namine: any benevolence I show to you comes strictly from my interest in advancing Sora’s wellbeing. As a Nobody, you know well enough that your existence is an aberration, parasitic even.”

“If you say so. But I struggle to believe it. How can that be… when I love him so?”

“What do Nobodies know about love?”

Namine looked at Diz curiously. She wanted to argue that while Sora’s feelings for her may have been manufactured, hers were definitely real. If they feel real, doesn’t that mean they are? Just then, a dark portal was formed and a figure wearing a black coat stepped out from it. He approached Diz and Namine. “Any progress?” he asked them.

“A setback if anything,” replied Diz. “It turns out that there is an unknown variable in addition to Sora’s Nobody.”

“My understanding is that they have subjected him to experiments. If I find out what those experiments are, it may lead me to your unknown variable.”

“Let’s just hope you’re right, Riku.”

Riku turned to Namine. “How much time do we have?”

Namine clasped her hands uncertainly. “I’m afraid Sora’s memories are getting weaker. If we do not put them back together before the year is out, the damage might not be reversible.”

xXx

_“If I were to go away, would you remember me?”_

_“I couldn’t forget you even if I tried!”_

Saix’s eyes flew open. He had been asleep, and it was still too early to wake up. He was startled awake by two children’s voices that sounded very familiar to him, and yet he could not place any context on how or why he knew them. “I must be hallucinating,” he thought to himself. “That could not have been a dream… could it?” Although his body was physically exhausted, his mind was wide awake and restless. He could not stop thinking about those voices, the familiarity, and the pining of the way things were, despite not knowing how they used to be. He tried to go back to sleep but found himself tossing and turning every few seconds. When at last his mind won over his body, he pulled himself up and walked over to the window like an automaton. As usual, Kingdom Hearts was staring right back at him, suspended in the perpetual night sky. It was their only source of light in the world they lived in – The World That Never Was. It was strange to call it that, since it most certainly _is_ , and yet he was told that it wasn’t. Like everything else he knew, this too was an illusion. The only thing they as Nobodies knew for certain was the reality of Kingdom Hearts, and they could be certain of this because of the light it radiated.

Saix gazed at Kingdom Hearts as he did every night. It reminded him that there was an ultimate goal to be accomplished, that in the end, these missions that everyone is sent out to on a daily basis are not in vain. But now, he was not so sure. “Kingdom Hearts, if I get a heart – what then?” he cried out to it earnestly as if it could respond back. “Will I remember the voices of those children? Will I remember what I have forgotten? And will those who have forgotten… remember me?”

xXx


	17. Vacation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel, Roxas, and Xion figure out what to do on Vacation.

It had been a long time before Axel or Roxas saw Xion again. They were sitting at the table where Luxord usually held his card games when she suddenly stepped into the lounge. She seemed particularly cheerful as she approached them. “Hey guys!” she chirped.

“Xion!” Roxas started, like he had just seen a ghost. “You’re okay!”

“Yeah,” she giggled. “I’m okay. I don’t think I ever had a chance to thank you two for saving my life.” She turned to each of them to express her appreciation.

“It’s no big deal,” Axel shrugged. “That heartless _was_ really strong.”

“Yeah, well, I’m better prepared now. I’m going to let Saix know to put me back on missions again, maybe take some of the workload off you – right Roxas?” She turned to Roxas hopefully.

Roxas looked alarmed, as he did not feel the same level of optimism that Xion expressed, recalling the night she was attacked by the heartless and left for dead. “So… are you sure you’re okay? I mean, don’t you need more rest?”

“No, I told you: I’m fine,” she insisted. “I _want_ to work.” She surveyed the room as she just noticed that apart from the three of them, the lounge appeared to be basically deserted. “Where did everyone go? Did they already leave for their missions?”

“No,” Axel replied, almost apologetically. “Actually, you may have picked a perfect time to wake up. We’re on vacation.”

“Vacation?” Xion repeated blankly. “What is that?”

“It means it’s a day off,” Axel explained. “You can do whatever you want on vacation.”

“Oh… okay. So, what do I want to do?”

Axel snickered. It sounded like something Roxas would ask. He never knew Xion was like that. “See, that’s the fun of it: _you_ get to decide what you want to do.”

Xion bowed her head as she considered this rather foreign concept. She had never been given the freedom to make her choices, and now that the opportunity presented itself, she did not know what she wanted. “Well… what are you guys doing?”

“We were just having a slow breakfast and talking about how Saix must be in a weird mood to give us vacation.”

“Have you seen him?”

“No. We came down to see that notice on the wall saying that we have a day off.”

“Well, I don’t want to spend any more time in the castle if we can do anything we want on our day off,” Roxas interjected, standing up from the dining table. “Can we go to Twilight Town?”

“You don’t need to ask me for my permission, you know,” Axel reminded Roxas. “You can just go if you want.”

“I mean can we all go to Twilight Town together?”

“Oh.” Axel scratched the back of head as he thought about it. He was really looking forward to going back to bed and sleeping to the next day, but seeing how earnest Roxas was, Axel did not have it in him to refuse, so he agreed.

xXx

For the rest of the day, Axel, Roxas, and Xion wandered around Twilight Town. It was a particularly busy day. Axel surmised that it must have been summertime, because even the children were out. “Instead of getting one day of vacation, they get, like, an entire month off!”

“A month!” Roxas exclaimed. “I don’t even know how to fill the rest of this day, let alone a month!”

“We’ll think of something,” Axel promised. They found a corner in the alley where there was a dart board and a couple of darts, so they played with that for a while. They then arrived to an open area called The Sandlot, where they saw a tournament of some kind taking place, so they stood and watched until it was over. Afterwards, they came across a park located in Station Heights and spent a considerable time there.

At some point, a group of kids passed them, running around and screaming each other’s names. They were apparently partaking in some kind of race, and one kid was clearly winning. “Last one there gets to buy everyone else ice-cream!” the winning kid slowed down to yell before taking off again.

A plump kid later came straggling behind, out of breath, and clearly the loser in the race. “Hey no fair!” he gasped. “Why do we only do things that you want to do? You know I’m not fast!”

“Don’t be such a spoil sport!” the winning kid jeered from up ahead. He laughed as he waited for his friend to keep up, and just as he was a few feet away, the winner sprinted off again, whooping and hollering all the while as the loser groaned in resignation and trudged behind.

When the kids were out of earshot, Roxas asked, “Axel, are _all_ kids like that?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know… loud and obnoxious?”

Axel busted out laughing. Roxas could be so blunt sometimes. “Yeah, they are,” he replied.

“I wonder what that’s like,” Xion mused, “to have a childhood. Roxas and I look similar to them, but we don’t act like that.”

“And don’t start either,” Axel jabbed at her. “You guys are fine just the way you are.”

When the day was almost over, the three bought their own sea salt ice-creams and headed to the top of the Clock Tower. There, they sat on the ledge as they ate, pondering and mindlessly chitchatting, all while gazing at the sunset with its colors rippling across the ocean before it bid its final farewell for the night. It had been so long since the three of them had ice-cream together, that it almost felt like a reunion of sorts.

“Hey, Roxas,” Axel said in between their musings, “bet you don’t know why the sun sets red?”

Roxas up until that point appeared to be deep in thought while chewing on the stick that remained of his sea salt ice-cream.

“The sun is made up of all different colors, but out of all the colors, red travels the farthest,” Axel explained.

“Like I really wanted to know that!” Roxas laughed.

“You must be really proud of that fact!” Xion chimed in with a giggle.

Axel smiled as he ran his hand over his spiked red locks. The redness of the sun was now beginning to fade as a hue of purple took over the night sky.

“You’re right, Axel. This was a good day,” Roxas beamed.

“See? Not bad, right?”

“I wish we can be like this forever,” Roxas sighed. “As we are now.”

“Why? Nothing lasts forever.”

“Just the same,” insisted Roxas. “Let’s do this every night after our missions. I mean, the three of us sitting here and eating ice-cream like this. Can we do that?”

“Sure,” said Axel. Although at the time, he did not know whether or not this could happen, he nonetheless was determined that he would keep his word.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A piece of this chapter has the first part of the short story I originally wrote from 358/2 days.


	18. If We Were Never Told We Had No Hearts, Would We Have Ever Known?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sea-salt trio question the purpose of having a heart.

As promised, they all met up at the Clock Tower night after night. Although their conversations often drifted to various topics – mostly how people live their lives – today somehow drifted to the subject of Kingdom Hearts, and the Organization’s primary goal: to unlock the secrets of Kingdom Hearts in hopes that they may get hearts of their very own and restore them to human form.

“What’s it like to have a heart?” asked Roxas. 

“I don’t know,” Axel replied. “I guess if we had one, we would know.”

“I don’t mind that I don’t have a heart,” declared Roxas. “I feel quite happy the way I am now.”

“You feel happy?” Axel laughed. “Gee, Roxas, are you _sure_ you don’t have a heart?” Axel stood up, and placing one foot above the ledge, peered down to the courtyard below. The street was bustling with people who were trying to catch the train, who were buying things from vendors, who were laughing, talking with one another in casual, spontaneous manners. Amongst the groups of people he saw the kids from Station Heights playing tag with one another; involuntarily, he reached into some faraway memory that he could not quite see clearly. “You see those kids down there?” he said. “They have hearts. You can tell because…” Axel thought about it for a moment. “Well, because they don’t have to think about who they are. They just are.” Axel continued to observe the children below. He knew that he had something missing, but he could not find the right words to describe it.

“So what are we doing here then?” Roxas asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why else do we come here every night?”

“Well...” Axel began, munching on his ice-cream during pauses to give more allowance for thinking. “I guess you can say we are friends.”

“Friends,” Roxas echoed. “That sounds special.”

“Sure it is,” Axel agreed. “You and me, we are co-workers when we go out on missions together. That label is thrust upon us, without our permission. But being a friend is something you choose to do. It is something you want to be for somebody else.”

“Are other Nobodies in the Organization your friends?”

Axel chuckled at the idea. “No. Not really. I don't talk with them the way I talk with you. In fact, I think you and Xion are my best friends – if not my only friends.”

Roxas smiled as he contemplated on this. It was true that any interaction with others in the Organization was done out of obligation and necessity. He never gave it much thought when he talked with others, but he would go out of his way to talk with Axel because he enjoyed it. Sometimes they did not even need to talk. Just sitting together in silence and eating ice-cream while watching the sunset was enough for him. He considered himself privileged to be called Axel's friend, and _best_ friend at that. 

Xion had not said anything that entire time. Her head was bowed as she sat slumped over her untouched ice-cream. It occurred to Roxas that Xion's silence was a different kind of silence, a rather disconcerted one as opposed to one lapsed in contentment. Without wanting to ask her what was wrong but at the same time seeking her engagement, Roxas blurted out clumsily, “Xion, your ice-cream is melting.”

“Hmm? Oh. I guess I’m not hungry,” she sighed. 

“What’s wrong?” Axel asked. 

“I... I failed on my mission today. I don’t know what’s the matter with me, but I don’t feel like myself, and I failed. Saix told me that if I fail again, I am out of the Organization. I can’t risk failing again, but I'm not up to taking on another mission right now either. I don't know what to do.”

Axel gave it some thought. “Maybe I can talk to Saix and suggest you and Roxas do missions together again. Roxas will have to double his output though if we want to make Saix none the wiser about your performance.” Roxas immediately agreed to this idea. He liked to think that he had taken Xion under his wing much like Axel had done for him.

“You’d do that for me?” asked Xion. Her previously dejected tone gave way to one full of hope. Xion blushed. “Thank you, Axel. You really are my friend.”

The three of them sat for the remainder of the evening in silence again. As friends, they learned that things did not always need to be said to one another. They sensed each other’s energy, both positive and negative. Roxas wondered if those with hearts feel the same way, but only more. Somehow he doubted it and then questioned in his mind if he would truly like it better if he had a heart. 

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally the second chapter of the short story from 358/2 Days, it was meant to be used to explain what Nobodies were.


	19. The Appearance of Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saix taunts Axel about his friends.

The next morning, when everybody reported in for their missions, Roxas and Xion approached Saix to ask if they could team up for a while. Saix’s nostrils flared at the idea. “It’s bad enough that we are down members,” Saix grumbled. “We need all hands on deck.”

“Well, I for one think it’s a good idea,” Axel chimed in as he came up from behind. “Instead of two half-pints, you get one. They can take on the harder assignments, put in double the work.”

Saix glared at Axel for a while but seemed to reconsider. “All right,” he said reluctantly. “But I want triple the output. Now get going.”

Appearing relieved, Roxas and Xion nodded their heads in acknowledgement and took off. After they left, Axel said to Saix, “You know, for a minute there, I thought you turned a new leaf after you gave us that vacation.”

Saix snorted. “Axel, you guys got a vacation because _I_ needed one.”

“What, were you sick?”

Despite the casual way Axel posed the question, Saix felt that it was personal. His thoughts involuntarily returned to the night when he heard the voices of the two children and the strange mixture of sadness and nostalgia that followed. There was a certain rawness to it that he did not like, as if it exposed the most secret, vulnerable parts of him that would certainly be attacked if anyone were to find out about them. “In a way,” he muttered after some hesitation.

“Well, don’t work too hard,” Axel offered mildly.

Just as Axel was about to leave, Saix threw in, “And don’t think that for one second I believed that reprehensible performance of yours.”

Axel stopped dead on his tracks and turned around. “What are you talking about?”

“Roxas and Xion. A blind person could see that you’ve been getting awfully chummy with them lately. Why the charade?”

“What charade? I can’t have friends?”

“Friends? _Those_ two?” Saix laughed incredulously.

“Yeah, they’re my friends – so what? At least I have some.”

Saix scowled in response. “Axel, look around you! What kind of a place is this that you think something as innocuous as friendship can survive? Can you hear it, Axel? The world is crying out in pain, and soon it will disappear, much like your fleeting friendships.”

Axel was going to say something else but then reconsidered. It was clear that Saix had already been in a bad mood from the get go and that he was looking to lash out at anyone who would cross his path. Axel shrugged dismissively. “You know what? I’m just going to chalk it up to you being sick… or that you got into some really strong stuff.”

After Axel left, Saix made his way to Vexen’s old laboratory. Zexion had not made much use of it since Vexen’s demise, given that he preferred his own chambers. Saix scanned the room. Behind the large oak table where Vexen created his elixirs, there was a stack of books piled against a single shelf. Saix perused all the spines to see if the titles remotely matched what he had in mind. He then returned his attention to the table again and came across several loose papers in the corner. When he skimmed through it, he realized that this was what he was looking for: the subject of Namine. Vexen had been studying Namine and her nature ever since her arrival to Castle Oblivion. She was a unique specimen: she was the Nobody of a Princess of Light, meaning one without Darkness in her, and so when Namine was formed, she did not have a heartless counterpart. Namine’s powers were drawn from Light. She had the ability to manipulate memories or implant them. Saix recalled Xemnas explaining how memories were inextricably linked to emotions – that of the heart. Nobodies are able to remember what it was like to have feelings, what it was like to be human, and so they can imitate this, albeit maybe imperfectly. But they did not have memories of who they were as humans. So what was it that Saix had experienced? Was that not a memory? He found himself questioning a lot of what was told to him as he reconsidered the real nature of Kingdom Hearts.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A portion of Saix's dialogue is from Kingdom Hearts 2: Short Stories Vol 2 - Axel Seven days by Kanemaki Tomoco


	20. The Memories of a Puppet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xion discusses her newfound memories with Axel; Axel finds out about Xion's true nature.

For the next few days, Roxas and Xion went out on missions together, with Roxas doing three times the work so that Saix would not catch on that Xion was not performing well. Axel and Roxas tried their best to cheer Xion up every time they met at the Clock Tower for their usual sea salt ice-cream, reminding her that her weakness was only temporary, that she will eventually turn around, regain her strength and be better than before. Xion, for her part, tried her best to sound optimistic, if not for her own benefit, then for the sake of Roxas and Axel, as she did not want to be a downer during their free time together. 

One day, Axel went to the Clock Tower with his ice-cream after completing his mission. There was no one there waiting for him, which did not faze him since it was not unusual for everyone to be done with their assignments at different times. Still, as an hour slowly passed by, and the sun was rapidly setting, Axel felt a certain unease. Just when he thought no one will show up, Xion suddenly arrived. “Axel,” she said through her hood. “It’s just me.”

“Oh?” Axel tried his best to play it cool under the anxiety that had been slowly forming.

“Roxas is not coming today. He is not feeling well.”

“Okay.”

“Were you hoping that Roxas was here?”

“No.” He did not like that she asked that question in such an urgent manner. “It’s okay if it's just you and me.”

“It’s just as well, because I wanted to ask you something, and I don’t know who else to talk about it with. I do not want Roxas to know.”

Although he barely looked at her from the moment she arrived, he quickly turned around to face her. “Well, what is it?” he asked impatiently.

She hesitated. “I think I was remembering something the other day. It came to me in a dream. The thing is, though, I was not remembering something from my own life. I think... I think I was remembering something through the eyes of Roxas.”

Axel balked. “You never told Roxas that?”

“No. I want to sort it out in my head before I say anything to him.”

“So... what do you remember?”

“An island... I lived there... and there was this girl. I felt close to her, like I wanted to protect her. I don't think I was able to. Then there was this guy. I kept running after him, and he would reach out to me, but he was always just out of my grasp. He was standing in water, but the water enveloped him and then me. After that, I woke up. What does it mean?”

Axel gave it some thought and then shrugged. “I don't know. What do you think? Were these life events or did they stand for something else?”

“I don’t know!” Xion and Axel lapsed into silence for a while, with Axel having nothing to say and Xion thinking about how she wanted to say what was next on her mind. “Axel...” she began, “Xemnas said... he said that Roxas and I were special. He told me that one day when I first became part of the Organization. He said _Roxas and I_ were special.”

“Well, you both _do_ possess the Keyblade,” he replied rather densely.

“But why though? No one else has the same powers. It made me wonder, especially after that dream last night, that maybe I am _Roxas’ Nobody_.”

“That's not possible!” he balked. “Roxas himself is a _Nobody._ How can you therefore be his Nobody?”

Xion considered Axel’s point. “Do you know who you are a Nobody of?”

“No.”

“Do you know who Roxas is a Nobody of?”

“No…” Axel said after a brief pause.

Perceiving his hesitation, Xion pursued, “Are you sure?”

“I said no!” Axel laid down, staring at the night sky. He did not want Xion to see his face and the look of displeasure that was forming into a scowl. 

“Oh... okay,” she relented disconcertingly. For the first time ever, Xion did not believe Axel. To lie is one thing, but the reasons behind the lie may be more nefarious than what she could imagine. She would like to believe that Axel was lying for her own good, to protect her from something, but she did not know what that could be. Even more serious doubts started to creep into her mind as she took into consideration that perhaps the Organization was actually evil. The missions that they were assigned to do – to kill the heartless – sounded rather noble at face value; but what if it was to fulfill a dark purpose? Xion decided from that day forward that she was going to keep certain things to herself and that if she was going to find out who she is, she better do it on her own. Axel did not seem to really care about finding out his own identity, but he seemed quite vexed when she asked him about Roxas’. She considered maybe telling Roxas about it but decided not to as she did not want to damage their friendship. 

xXx

The next morning, Axel came straightaway to Saix’s chambers to see him. Although Axel would rather do without seeing Saix on any given day, he had never felt a greater sense of urgency to speak with him as he did now. He had been tossing and turning all night long, thinking about Xion’s comments, her speculations. He had always known that she was… well, special… but he never knew or even understood her exact nature. Before Saix could say a word, Axel slammed the door shut and asked him bluntly, “What is Xion?”

“What?” Saix replied, decidedly befuddled.

“I mean, what is she? Why is it that every time I see her, I see more and more of Roxas? Why is it that she possesses memories that seem to belong to Sora?”

“Memories?” So the puppet was finally evolving, taking on attributes of Roxas, even those that he himself does not possess. He recalled the nature of Namine, and that if she has the Power of Light, so do Roxas and Xion. “I need to know more about its memories,” Saix muttered. “They may finally tell us what we want to know about Sora.”

“Saix – _What. Is. She_?” Axel repeated emphatically. He had to resist the urge to grab Saix and shake him.

“Haven’t you figured it out already? Xion is a puppet.”

“What?” Axel cried. He had heard that terminology thrown around a few times, but he had never seen one in action and had the impression that a puppet was something that was more… lifeless.

“It’s true that puppets start out as empty vessels, but then they take on the characteristics of those they are meant to emulate until they eventually become them,” Saix explained.

Saix’s explanation did not do much to alleviate Axel’s confusion. “But Xion… she has her own personality apart from Roxas,” Axel insisted.

“Yes, I guess that was not something anticipated. But you said so yourself: whenever you look at her, you see more and more of Roxas.”

“So what eventually becomes of Xion?”

“The Xion that you know won’t exist.”

Axel was stunned. He did not know what to make of this information. Noticing his troubled expression, Saix warned Axel not to tell Roxas about Xion’s true nature or it might jeopardize the process. Axel shook his head. “If you want to get rid of Xion, I won’t help you with that.”

“Then let me put this in a way you can understand: if you have to choose which friendship you want to hold onto, why choose the imaginary one? Don’t you understand? Roxas and Xion cannot continue to co-exist as they are now.”

xXx


	21. Let’s Go To The Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel prods Xion's memories, which invokes in him a desire to go to the beach.

After Axel told Saix that Xion had memories that seemed to belong to Sora, Saix made it Axel’s new mission to get Xion to remember as much as possible in hopes that they would discover clues regarding Sora’s home base and presumably that of the other hero. Axel was not comfortable taking on this mission, especially since Xion seemed very troubled from the mere fact that she was experiencing memories, but given his lack of success in his latest missions, he knew he was on thin ice and was not in a position to refuse. And at any rate, he did not have to change his daily routine: he was still able to go to the Clock Tower every night, only this time, if Xion or Roxas said anything about memories, he was to report it to Saix.

Roxas looked drawn and paler than usual, but otherwise maintained a cheerful countenance. Xion, who was sitting on one side of Roxas while Axel was on the other side, asked, “Are you sure you’re okay, Roxas? We don’t need to be here if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay,” Roxas said, offering her a smile. “And anyway, that’s a first.”

“First of what?”

“You worrying about me. It’s typically the other way around.”

Xion blushed in response. “Well, of course I worry about you. We’re friends, aren’t we? Here: I brought you something.” Xion reached into one of the many folds in her black coat and pulled out a conch shell, which was pristine white with a hint of pink. She had explained that after every mission in the various worlds they had visited, she would pick up a seashell and so bring a part of that world with her.

“Hold it up to your ear,” she told Roxas. “You can hear the sound of waves.”

Roxas held it up and listened attentively. After a few seconds his eyes lit up and he gasped in amazement. He immediately pressed the shell against Axel’s ear. “Can you hear it?” Roxas asked eagerly.

“Stop talking for a minute and maybe I will,” Axel snapped. He would have acted more annoyed that someone had quickly invaded his space like that, but the joy emanating from the faces of his young companions softened his mood, and he did not have it in him to chastise Roxas any further. He sat there and listened. Sure enough, he heard a soft whistling. When he closed his eyes he imagined the crashing waves against big rocks. He knew what it was like to go to the beach, but he could not put a timeline on it in terms of when he had gone. It was like a childhood memory, so distant and far away, yet so familiar. A memory. Or a dream?

“I feel like... I’ve done this before,” Xion mused sleepily. Axel thought that it was funny that she said what he was just thinking. “Like a long time ago… when I was very young.”

“An island?” Axel asked hesitantly.

“Hmm… oh, I guess so.”

“Were there… trees?”

“Yeah… tropical ones with star shaped fruits…” Roxas watched Xion carefully as she appeared to slowly go into a daze. She swayed from side to side a little. “I should go,” she announced in a distracted voice. As she got up, she stumbled over the first step and fell forward over the ledge.

“Xion!” Roxas cried. He quickly grabbed her hand, preventing her from plummeting to her death.

Xion screamed as she flailed around. Using her free hand, she grabbed Roxas on the hand that was already gripping her. Roxas was not able to pull her up, as his other hand was holding onto to the ledge to keep himself from falling. Axel rushed over and pulled them both in. Xion trembled when she got back up. Roxas immediately grabbed a hold of her again, as if expecting that she would fly off the ledge any minute.

“Xion, are you okay?” he asked in alarm.

“I’m fine!” she insisted, pushing Roxas away in response. “Please, can we forget about it?” Her voice cracked as she sounded like she was ready to cry.

“But what happened? What–”

“Everybody, calm down,” Axel finally interjected. “Let’s just sit here until we’re all calm, and then we can leave.”

The three of them just sat there in awkward silence. Xion kept her head bowed to the ground while Roxas tried his best to avoid looking at her. Axel, meanwhile, was pensively chewing on the stick that was left from his ice-cream. He felt responsible for what had happened. He wished there was something that he could say to ease the tension. More than anything, he wished that there was somewhere they could go, where they could just run away and be left alone. But where? Axel knew all too well that Xemnas’ reach was far and extensive.

“Hey, I know!” Axel suddenly declared. Startled, Roxas and Xion both looked up at him. “Let's go to the beach!” he said. “The three of us. One of these days, on our next days off, we will go.” They seemed both ecstatic to hear that.

“Do you promise?” Roxas asked.

“Sure,” Axel said. “It’ll be a memory that we can all share.” Roxas and Xion smiled in response. They liked the idea that they were building memories together. All Axel could think about though was how much he wanted to sail away.

xXx


	22. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xion discovers her true nature.

The next day was business as usual. Axel told Saix to look for an island with star shaped fruit. Saix felt annoyed that with all that time Axel spent with Xion, this was the most information he could come up with. Axel cautioned Saix that pushing Xion to remember things too quickly may have catastrophic consequences. “What makes you say that?” Saix asked.

“Well…” Axel was not sure if he wanted to tell Saix about how Xion nearly passed out and fell to her death. He thought about how he himself started to reminisce despite not having clear memories to reflect on. Saix reminded Axel that memories are a very powerful tool that can easily manipulate people’s hearts. Axel wondered, then, what the memories were doing to him when he is without a heart.

xXx

Later on that day, as Xion was out and about, she encountered a tall dark figure. He was wearing the black coat of the Organization, but she had never seen him before. The figure had a blindfold covering his eyes. As she was wondering whether or not he was blind, he called out to her. “Hey!” he shouted. “You have something that I want back!” In a reflexive move, she generated her Keyblade and prepared to fight. To her horror, however, she noticed that he was able to do the same thing! The two battled it out with their respective Keyblades, slashing at one another and maneuvering away from the other’s blows. It went on like this for maybe about half an hour or less. Xion found herself growing tired as the battle wore on and was afraid that the man would never relent. As she was thinking this, she was caught off guard when he slashed at her feet, causing her to fall to the ground. 

“Listen, I don’t know you!” she said in a bid that she hoped would spare her life. 

“Really now?” the man said and pulled back his hood. At that moment, she recognized who he was. 

“You’re the boy from my dream!” she exclaimed. 

“A memory,” he corrected her. “You have the memories of my friend Sora, and I want them back!”

“Sora? You mean of Roxas?”

“Who’s Roxas?”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” she stammered. She figured that she should not disclose too much information at this time. “So the memories are of Sora’s?”

“Yes,” the man replied. “He is currently in a deep sleep and will remain so until his memories are returned to him.”

“But how do I release his memories?”

“I think you know.”

Xion gave pause. She had already knew that the memories she was developing were not her own, but she never knew that the person who they belonged to was still alive or what this meant for him. She had so many questions, and she realized that the answer to her identity rested on this stranger! As she began to ask, the man replied, “All of your questions can be answered by a girl named Namine. She lives in an abandoned mansion at the edge of Twilight Town. Go there. I will let her know that she is expecting you.” 

Just as the man was turning away to leave, Xion cried out, “Wait! What is your name, so that I may tell her who sent me?”

“Riku,” he replied. “My name is Riku.”

xXx

Xion went to the edge of Twilight Town and deep into the woods until she came across the mansion that Riku told her about. It was said to be abandoned because it appeared to be in a state of disrepair with overgrown landscapes. However, rumor had it that someone did, in fact, live there, most likely an apparition, if the locals were to be believed. Xion opened the gate to the mansion without difficulty. When she got to the front door, she was only half-surprised that it was not locked. “Hello!” she called out from the threshold. No one answered. With increasing trepidation, she gathered her courage to traverse the entire first floor before moving on to the second floor. The first floor of the mansion was completely empty and void of furniture. The second floor had only two rooms that were at opposite ends of the house. She opened one of the doors and was surprised that it led to a room that looked entirely different from the rest of the house. While the interior of the house was colored red with wooden panels, this one particular room was completely white. In the middle of the room was a long white table with white chairs capping the long ends.

At one end sat a girl who Xion deduced was Namine. The girl rose from her seated position and greeted Xion. “Riku told me to expect you,” Namine said graciously. It was uncanny how much Namine looked like her. They had the same eyes, the same height, and build. The only difference was that Namine had long blonde hair. Xion was shocked to learn that Namine was also a Nobody and asked if they came from the same person. “No,” Namine said. “I’m actually Kairi’s Nobody. That is Sora’s friend. The reason you look like her is because you have captured the memories that Sora has of Kairi.”

“I have never met a Nobody who is not from the Organization,” Xion marveled. 

Namine studied Xion carefully. “Xion, what if I were to tell you that you are not a Nobody?”

Xion balked. “If I am not a Nobody, then what am I?”

“You are actually a clone of Sora’s Nobody. Roxas – is that his name?”

“A clone! But we do not look anything alike!”

“In your eyes and Roxas’ eyes, you look like Kairi. To everyone else, you don’t look like anything. They cannot see your face. This is in part, because, aspects of you are an illusion. Nobodies are not supposed to exist. You are a clone of that. Not a precise clone, but one nonetheless. Organization XIII created you to behave like Sora, a Keyblade wielder. They needed someone like him as only a Keyblade wielder can release the hearts from the heartless.”

Xion was now more confused than ever. “If Sora’s mission is to release the hearts from the heartless, why then can’t Organization XIII join forces with him? They both seem to want the same thing.”

“Yes and no. Sora wants to free the hearts from the heartless, but he will use the Keyblade to lock the doors between the Realms of Light and Darkness with Kingdom Hearts. Your organization wants to keep the portal between the Realms of Light and Darkness open. If that happens, the Darkness will eventually overcome the Light. So you see, they have different purposes and end goals.”

Xion was devastated. She did not want to be a pawn between Light and Darkness. She did not want her existence to be parasitic to someone else. Does her mere existence make her bad? Now that she knows the truth about who or what she is, any decision she makes from here on falls on moral grounds. Still, her instinct told her that she is a real person. She has her own thoughts, feelings, and opinions independent of others. Does she not have the right to exist?

“I am sorry that you are the product of creators bent on evil. But be reassured, you would not truly die, but merely return back to Sora, where you belong. Sora will need both you and Roxas to be whole again.”

“Because Roxas is his Nobody. In that case, I will have to let Roxas know.” 

Xion got up from her chair. Namine got up as well. “Take some time to think about it, if you must. Sora will remain asleep until then. I think you will ultimately do the right thing.”

Xion was a nervous wreck. Coming out of the abandoned mansion, she was initially quite resolved about this new task at hand, but as she prepared herself for it, that resolve began to wane. After all, it was one thing to be told what is right or wrong. It is another situation entirely to execute it, especially when Xion did not feel it to be the right thing to do. She had no problem with killing the heartless, as they were vile creatures who came out from the darkness and would attack her on sight upon view of the Keyblade. But Roxas was Xion’s friend – her _best_ friend. He would never do anything to harm her, and she had nothing but kind thoughts about him. She did not know Riku and she had never met Sora – and yet she should sacrifice herself and Roxas for the sake of an end goal that seemed too difficult to grasp? As she thought all these things through, she decided that it was best, at least for the time being, to stay away from Roxas until these conflicting thoughts were sorted out and she could think more clearly about what she needed to do. She will return to Organization XIII, complete her missions, and not let any of the members know about her newly possessed knowledge. 

xXx


	23. The Cost of Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xion makes a decision regarding her place in the Organization, in which Axel reluctantly plays a role.

Later on that same evening, Roxas came to the Clock Tower, alone and troubled. The day’s mission had been exceedingly difficult, more so than what he thought it should be. He had noticed for a while that every heartless he fought were increasingly tougher. This did not concern him too much at first, as he had assumed that Xemnas was purposefully assigning him more difficult creatures with the belief that Roxas was becoming stronger and more capable. But something did not feel right. The Keyblade, for instance, would feel awkward and ponderous in his hands. He was clumsy and stumbled around as if he had just woken up from a very deep sleep. Today’s mission proved the most alarming when he noted for the very first time that he was unable to produce the Keyblade at all when he came upon a particularly formidable heartless. Panicked, he ran around in circles, dodging the heartless’ swipes and kicks. He was absolutely terrified and at a complete lost. Should he just keep running around until he collapses in exhaustion and gets consumed by the heartless?

Just when he considered his situation hopeless, Axel suddenly appeared. He lifted his arms and produced a chakram on each hand, which he spun with ease and set on fire, looking like pyrotechnical marvels. He slashed away at the heartless until, upon losing all its strength, it receded back into the darkness. 

xXx

“Hey,” Axel called out to Roxas, flopping down beside him. Roxas had been gazing out at the ocean, replaying the earlier events in his mind. Axel’s voice had startled him out of his trance. 

“Hi,” Roxas returned quietly. He could not look Axel in the face and reveal his shame. 

Axel looked at him with concern. “So… what happened there? You just suddenly left… I think.”

“Were you coming from your own mission?”

“I was.”

“And how did you come about finding me?”

“I don’t know. I guess I knew where to look. It’s not exactly hard to figure out your missions, you know, since they’re always the same.”

“Which is what?”

“To go where there is the strongest presence of the heartless. You are a Keyblade wielder, after all.” Axel laughed. It amazed him how Roxas could be so dense sometimes.

“And what are your missions? I mean, what do you do for the Organization?”

“Me?” Axel had been looking at Roxas up until that point but then he turned away. “I’m an assassin.”

Now Roxas turned to him. “So were you there to assassinate me?”

“Of course not!” Axel scoffed. He was both surprised and hurt that Roxas would even ask that. “I already came from my mission. I just dropped in to check on you, to see how you were doing, since you seemed so exhausted lately. I didn’t realize you were in trouble.”

That last statement stung Roxas, as this was not something he had wanted to admit even to himself, much less aloud. So, it was noticeable to Axel that Roxas was out of sorts. It must have been noticeable to others too. It must have been noticeable to Xemnas. He had always emphasized to Roxas how important he was to the Organization, as he alone, until Xion came along, was able to release the hearts from the heartless. Everyone in the Organization had a specific purpose, although Roxas had never been aware about what their purposes were. Some Nobodies, like Axel, would be gone for days at a time. Some he met only once during his first week at the Organization and then he never saw them again. He wondered if Axel assassinated them. Then he noted, quite uneasily, that he had not seen Xion in a while.

“Hey, Axel, have you ever been tasked with assassinating other members of the Organization?”

“Yeah. But the only reason that would happen is because they are traitors.”

“What about me and Xion? What if the leaders told you to assassinate either of us?”

Axel shook his head and smiled at him reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I would never do that, even if they were direct orders from Xemnas himself.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, we’re friends, aren’t we? What’s the point of being friends if you can’t stick up for them when they need you the most?” Axel nudged Roxas in a lighthearted way, hoping that it would raise Roxas’ spirits, although Roxas still seemed troubled. “Besides, you don’t really come off as the traitor type.”

Roxas shook his head. “I guess I’m worried that my performance is slipping a lot recently. I’m sure that Xemnas will see that, and he won’t want me anymore.”

“Maybe you can do your missions with Xion, the way she did them with you when she was slipping.”

“I haven’t seen her lately, though. I don’t know where she is.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

After Axel and Roxas finished their ice-cream, they decided to return to headquarters to call it a night. On their way, they encountered two figures dressed like them with their hoods over their face, but Roxas immediately recognized one of them. “Xion!” he cried.

“Roxas!” she gasped. Xion looked up and immediately took off running while her companion ran in another direction. 

Roxas ran after her and just as he was about to overtake her, he reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. “Xion, why are you running?” he cried.

“Let me go, Roxas!” she insisted. “I can’t stay here. It would be better if I leave!”

“Better for who? Not for me!”

“Especially for you!”

After struggling a little longer, Xion found that she had produced the Keyblade and that she was holding the blade against Roxas! He appeared stunned, betrayed. “Xion, what – what are you doing?” he stammered. 

“I’m sorry, Roxas, but maybe this is for the best.” 

Xion raised the Keyblade and swung it down towards Roxas’ head but it was immediately intercepted by Axel’s chakram. “Xion, stop!” Axel yelled, but his protests were left unheeded as she at that moment started to attack Axel instead. The two battled it out for a long time to the point where they were both getting tired and were slowing down. Xion, in one final effort, screamed and flung the Keyblade right at Axel. As Axel ducked out of its way, he rushed forward and smacked her at the top of her head, causing Xion to crumple and collapse like a ragdoll before Axel’s feet. 

“You killed her!” Roxas screamed in horror. Water pooled up in his eyes and overflowed down his cheeks. He wiped his cheeks with his hands and looked down to see the glistening tears. He had never cried before. 

“No, I didn’t,” Axel said flatly. He picked her up and hauled her over his shoulder. “But I do have to bring her back to the Organization, and we’ll figure out what to do from there.” He added as a quick afterthought, but in a gentler tone, “She’ll be okay. I promise,” and then disappeared with her. 

xXx

When Xion woke up, she found that she was lying on her bed. Axel was sitting right next to her, staring at her. “Oh no!” she gasped, as she sprang up. “Did I hurt him? Did I hurt Roxas?”

“No, but you hurt me... a little,” Axel muttered, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh... Oh, Axel, I am so sorry. I was trying to avoid something like that!”

“So enlighten me. What happened out there?”

Xion recounted her meeting with Riku and Namine and the discovery about Sora. She, along with Roxas, would have to return to him in order for him to wake up. 

“And where’s Sora now?” Axel asked. 

“Neither Riku nor Namine were willing to tell me. I guess they did not want to risk his safety.”

“Yes. Sora is a threat to both you and Roxas. As long as he is alive, your existence is never guaranteed.”

“But is it right for us to live at his expense?”

“What do you think, Xion?”

Xion paused and gave it some thought. She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t _know_?” he sneered. “Surely you must have some opinion on the matter, especially when your own life is on the line. Unless... you’re not capable of independent thought because you’re a _puppet_!”

Xion’s eyes flashed in anger. “I’m not a puppet! I do, in fact, have my own thoughts! I am my own person!”

Axel put a consoling hand on Xion’s shoulder. “I know you do, and I know you are. What does Saix know anyway? Just because he built the Replica Program, doesn’t mean he knows your true nature.”

“The Replica Program?” she repeated puzzlingly. “That’s what they used to create me?”

Axel nodded. “You are the first. You’re a real trailblazer, Xion.”

Xion was surprised that he brought it up so casually. “How long have you known about me?”

“Not too long ago. I went to Saix to find out for myself after you told me about your memories.”

“Do you know why they wanted to make a clone of Roxas?”

“I guess it was because when we first found Roxas, he couldn’t wake up. He must have woken up shortly after you were created.”

“Well, now, I think I’m a danger to him. If I’m a puppet –”

“We just established that you’re not a puppet! You’re not! How can you be? Saix was wrong!” 

Axel waved his hand in an attempt to further dismiss Xion’s concerns, but Xion would not be swayed. She shook her head vigorously and yanked Axel’s arm to get him to listen. “They’re Sora’s memories! Shouldn’t Roxas have them as his Nobody? But he doesn’t, and I do! And then look at what happened tonight! I almost killed Roxas!”

Axel pulled away from Xion. He wanted to continue to deny what she was saying but he had no alternative explanation. Perhaps this was what Saix meant when he said that Roxas and Xion cannot continue to co-exist – that one is destined to eradicate the other. But Axel was not sure about this. They had all known each other for almost a year now, and Roxas and Xion were both still around. Saix did not expect Xion to develop her own personality independent of Roxas, and yet she did. There was still a lot they did not know about Xion. Axel sighed in resignation. “Okay, Xion, what do you want to do?”

“I think it would be best if I leave the Organization. That way, I won’t be in a position to use my powers, and Roxas can regain his strength back.”

“But where would you go? The Organization can find you and hunt you down. You’re a deserter, and you know too much about the Organization.”

“If they kill me, I think... I think I’ll be okay with that. It would help Roxas _and_ Sora. My existence has been nothing but misery for everyone.”

“No it hasn’t. Not for me. Or Roxas.”

Xion offered a sweet but forlorn smile. “Thank you, Axel.” She got up to prepare to leave.

“Won’t you say good-bye to Roxas?"

“I can’t. It’s too risky. But please take care of him when I’m gone.”

“I will. And Xion, if the Organization does catch you, do me simple favor: Don’t make it easy for them. If you’re going to go down, go down with a fight.”

“Okay, I will.” And just like that, she was gone. 

xXx

Later on that night, Axel decided to save himself some trouble down the road by telling Xemnas in the meeting chambers that Xion had eloped. “What?!” roared Xemnas. “How can you let that happen? You knew how crucial Xion was to our mission!”

“Hey, I didn’t ‘let’ it happen, it just happened,” Axel insisted. “Why not create another puppet out of Roxas if it’s so important?” He did not mean for it to sound sarcastic, but he could not help feeling bitter about the position they had put Xion and Roxas in.

“Xion was the _better half_ of Roxas!” Xemnas screamed. Axel did his best to keep a calm composure in front of Xemnas. He had never seen Xemnas so infuriated with him before. His orange eyes were blazing and his white hair ruffled in an agitated mess. At that moment, Xemnas reminded Axel of an angry eagle, ready to rip his eyes out with his talons. “She had _all_ of Sora’s abilities, and she took that with her!”

“ _You’re_ going after her, Axel!” Saix declared. 

Axel angrily turned to Saix. He was annoyed that Saix had chimed in at all, like two parents taking turns scolding a child. “Hey, why me? It’s not like she’s going to listen to me anyway! She’d be kicking and screaming the whole way!”

“But it has to be you when she’s _your_ friend,” Saix reminded Axel spitefully. 

“Do whatever it takes to get her here,” Xemnas boomed. “That is an order!”

Scowling, Axel turned on his heels and stormed off. He barely had much time to recover himself when Roxas immediately intercepted him just outside the chambers. “Axel, I overheard,” Roxas said. “What are you going to do? You won’t hurt her, will you?” Axel ignored Roxas and just kept walking.

xXx


	24. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Axel half-heartedly tries to look for Xion, Roxas makes his final encounter with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Major character death.

For the next few days, Axel spent much of his time alone. He did not think Xion was capable of going far on her own, but she might as well be at the other end of the world since he had no idea where to start looking. He came upon their usual spot at the Clock Tower. The ledge looked empty and bare without them sitting on it. He stared at it for a while and was suddenly saddened. It was a place where he had some of the best memories, where he relaxed with Roxas and Xion and saw the world through their eyes. The pleasure of someone's company. The salty, sweet taste of their ice-cream. The array of colors that imbued the evening sky like a freshly painted canvas. It all came together in a warm wonderful memory.

He was suddenly reminded of the time he promised Roxas and Xion that they would go to the beach. "I never kept that promise," Axel sadly thought to himself. He was even more melancholic when he realized that it was too late to do it now. He then considered that maybe he should just go to one anyway. It would not be like he was straying from his task, since his assignment was to look for Xion. Axel contemplated on what would happen if he did, in fact, find her. Deep down, he hoped that he will never find her as he strongly suspected that the Organization planned on eradicating her once they get what they need from her. 

Axel arrived on a beach that Xion described in her memories. It was a little island completely surrounded with water as far as the eyes can see. The trees had star shaped fruit. There were a lot of wooden huts with straw roofs. “A little tropical paradise,” he thought to himself wryly. He suddenly became aware that he was not alone. He felt it in the back of his neck. He spun around, glancing at every direction. From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something black and pronounced. He turned to that direction and saw in front of him a hooded figure with a black coat. It was not Xion, as it was too tall. Was the Organization spying on him? “Identify yourself or prepare to die!” he shouted. 

The hooded figure lifted his head so that now Axel could clearly see a young man with long feathered white hair. His eyes were covered in a blindfold.

“Why are you like that?” Axel shouted. “Are you blind, man?”

“Not blind,” said the figure. “But nonetheless I must not see or it would put me at risk of being overcome by my dark nature.”

“Darkness isn’t that bad.”

“It is when you are from the Light.”

“You’re... you're not a Nobody.”

“You’re right.”

“You’re a sham.”

“Perhaps. Maybe the biggest sham of them all.”

“So… You’re Riku, the other hero! You know, you’ve caused a lot of trouble for us, and now you’re messing with Xion!” Axel produced his chakrams, readied for battle. Sensing Axel’s weapons drawn, Riku produced his Keyblade. Riku swung the Keyblade at Axel with a kind of ferocity that he only knew from Sora. The two battled it out for a long time, but Riku ultimately had the upper-hand and knocked Axel to the ground. Feeling the shame of defeat, he goaded Riku into finishing him; instead, much to Axel’s surprise, Riku put away the Keyblade. “What? You’re not going to kill me?” panted Axel. “I don’t know if I should call it noble or foolish.”

“Maybe it’s both,” Riku replied. “But a man who is willing to fight for his friends is no enemy of mine.”

"That's stupid; of course we’re enemies! Because of you, Xion is going to sacrifice herself for Sora! But I won’t let you get Roxas. I will find Sora first and kill him before that happens!”

Riku smiled in response. “I don’t think so,” he replied. “You would have to get through me.” He turned away and was getting ready to leave.

“Wait!” cried Axel, struggling to get up. “You know where Xion is!”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Riku replied. “And Xion is doing what she thinks is for the best. It is for the best. The longer Xion stays here, the more she will lose herself. She is becoming something that you will no longer recognize. Neither of you can stop it.” With that, Riku disappeared. 

xXx

Xion returned to the abandoned mansion to talk to Namine. “What happens after a Nobody dies?” she asked her.

“They turn into nothing because they were never supposed to exist.”

“You told me before that _I_ will not truly die because I would go back to Sora. So, if Sora dies again, will I come back?”

“I’m sorry, but no, because you did not derive from Sora, but from Roxas.”

“But I’m the one with Sora’s memories! I think, based on that alone, I should be enough to wake Sora up.”

“No, Xion. It must be both you and Roxas. If it is just you, only a part of Sora returns to him.”

“Then my sacrifice will be in vain without Roxas.” Xion shook her head. “Roxas won’t understand. He doesn’t feel Sora the way I do. He –”

Xion was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Namine and Xion both stood up as a tall man wearing a mask entered the room. He looked angry. “Namine,” the man bellowed. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Diz!” Namine gasped. “Diz, this is Xion. She has come to return to Sora, and –”

“No!” Diz interjected. “She has brought the Organization here. They have found us!”

“What?!” Xion feared that it was Xemnas or maybe one of his lackeys that have come to take her away. Namine’s fears ran much deeper, as she explained to Xion that they were protecting something very valuable in this mansion. Xion understood that she was referring to Sora. She offered to go out there and see for herself who it was and hopefully steer them away from the place. When she went over to a nearby window to look, she was horrified to find that it was Roxas! “Oh no!” she cried and ran down.

Roxas was still in the process of climbing up the stairs on the porch when Xion emerged from the front door and slammed it behind her. “Roxas!” she gasped.

“Xion!” He ran up to her and would have thrown his arms around her but she held her hand up to stop him. 

“Is there anyone with you?” she asked earnestly. 

“No, I went by myself. Xemnas sent Axel out to look for you, and I decided to do the same on my own. I'm afraid... that they mean for Axel to assassinate you!”

“Roxas, are you sure no one followed you?”

“No. I made sure of it. I did not want anybody to find you before I did. I wanted to warn you of the Organization’s intention –”

“I did not want you to find me either, but since you’re here, I might as well tell you what I'm doing.” Her voice trembled and her hands shook the entire time. Although she was ready to accept her fate, she did not want to force Roxas to do the same. He looked so worried, so scared for her. He risked his own life to protect hers. She suddenly felt overwhelmed with grief due to her own deep desire to protect him. And yet... There was another feeling that she had never felt before, an intense hatred that was so powerful, she felt as though it would destroy her from the inside out. It was gnawing at her stomach and rapidly making its way up her throat. She doubled over from pain. Alarmed, Roxas moved towards her. “No!” she protested loudly. 

“But Xion, there’s something wrong!”

“Stay away!” Although this last sentence came out of Xion, it did not sound like her. It was deep and guttural, the way thunder would sound if it had a voice. The hood of her coat suddenly fell back and the face that Roxas knew so well was not Xion’s face anymore. It was a complete blank, and her skin was replaced by what appeared to be a metallic substance. Xion grew ten times her height as the Keyblade appeared in her hand. Roxas tried to run, but an invisible force shield encircled them, so he had no choice but to fight her. To Roxas’ surprise, the Keyblade instantly appeared in his hand too. A surge of energy rushed through him. The Keyblade itself felt like an extension of his arm. He was ready to fight. The thing that Xion transformed into was now moving about, trying to crush him. Roxas dodged every strike she made. Roxas scanned the monster to find a vulnerable place. From the countless heartlesses he had defeated, Roxas had learned that all of them, no matter how large or powerful they looked, had a weak spot. Roxas zeroed in at the center of her chest, which had the shape of a heart. With all his might, he threw the Keyblade at its direction. The Keyblade, as he expected, penetrated her chest. The monster let out a loud shriek and collapsed. 

As the monster laid dying, it reverted back to Xion’s form. Roxas ran to her and picked her up. Xion opened her eyes and gazed up at Roxas. “Oh, Roxas, look!” she said, pointing to the shimmering flakes that swirled around them and floated upward. As she held up her hand, she saw that it was slowly disintegrating and becoming that glittering dust that they were marveling over. “So this is how I die,” she thought. 

“Xion, I’m sorry!” Roxas cried. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you!”

“It’s okay, Roxas. I know. But you’re safe now. That is all that matters.”

She began to disintegrate more rapidly. She was crystallizing fast, beginning with her feet and ending with her face. “Xion!” Roxas cried. “Who else will I eat ice-cream with?”

“I’m going back to him,” she breathed, closing her eyes one final time. 

“Back to who?” Roxas asked, but by then, she had completely crystallized and all that was left of her continued to float up. “Back to who?”

xXx


	25. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel reveals the truth about Roxas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Depression is mentioned.

Roxas fell into a deep depression and stayed in bed for the next several days. Axel visited Roxas from time to time to see if he was up, but Roxas never stirred. He had been dreaming a lot. He never knew that he could dream until now. He saw Xion a lot in his dream, only she was dressed differently. She was in more girly clothes instead of that unisex black coat that everyone in the Organization wore. Her hair was also different. Instead of jet black, it was brown. Sometimes it was short, but other times it was longer and she looked older. He knew it was Xion, but he also knew her by another name, although he could not quite remember what it was. There was also a boy there who was maybe a little bit older than them. He had long silver hair which he wore spiked at the ends. He was standing knee deep in water in the middle of the ocean, facing towards the horizon. Roxas called out to the boy, and the boy turned around and held out his hand to him. When Roxas reached for it, he saw a large wave in the background coming for them. “Riku!” he screamed, as he knew it was going to crash on them. “Riku!”

Roxas screamed the name so loudly in his dream that he woke himself up whispering the name in his sleep. He quickly opened his eyes and felt relieved that he did not drown. 

“Roxas?” Axel had been sitting at the foot of his bed and heard Roxas speak for the first time since Xion’s demise. Roxas just stared at Axel blankly. Axel scratched the back of his head. “So... are we _not_ in speaking terms?”

Roxas slowly regained his senses and realized that he was back at the Organization's headquarters, in his own room. The room itself could have been anyone's, really, since it was not decorated and had no furniture except for a single bed. Roxas tried to recall the events of the last day that he could remember but it felt more like a dream than his actual dream. It then occurred to him in a dreadfully sinking way that he had killed Xion. The realization depressed him so much that he thought he was going to go back to sleep. Then he remembered his dream again and said, “Who’s Riku?”

“Riku?” Axel echoed. Askance, he asked, “Where did you hear that name?”

“I didn’t. I remembered it. I have memories. I’ve never had memories like that before.”

“Maybe because Xion –” Axel began but stopped suddenly in case the mere mention of her name would send Roxas into another deep slumber. “Uh, that is, I mean, maybe those memories were passed on to you.”

“You mean by Xion?”

Axel hesitated. “Yeah,” he breathed. 

“How can that be? Why would we share memories?”

“Roxas...,” he started uneasily. “How can I put this? Um, okay, so you know how we used to joke that you and, uh, her are like peas in a pod? Well, that saying had more truth than you know. You see, you and her originated from the same person.”

“But how is that possible? I thought people only had one Nobody when they die.”

“Yes, and you are that Nobody. But Xion came from you.” Axel then talked about the Replica Program and how Roxas came about to be their first experiment. He discussed how Xion was created as a puppet and that she only acted in a manner that she was created for. Axel tried his best to reassure Roxas that none of what happened to Xion was Roxas’ fault.

“So whose fault is it?” Roxas cried, on the verge of tears. “Xion’s? She’s just as much a victim in this as I am. We were both played as fools! We’re expendable! We gave our all for the Organization, but it doesn’t matter!”

“Hey, I’m just as easily expendable!” Axel insisted. “You think they’d tell me anything they don’t want me to know? They– Hey! Don’t leave! Where are you going?” 

Roxas got up and stormed out of the room. “I’m going to find out about who I am! I don’t think I’ll get the answers here. Not from the Organization, and not from you!”

xXx


	26. Search and Find

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel goes after Roxas and tries to bring him back to the Organization.

“How did I lose control of the situation so quickly?” Axel wondered as he walked out of headquarters shortly after Roxas had left. Then it occurred to him: “Was I _ever_ in control?” He reflected on his time with the Organization, Roxas, and Xion. His role in the Organization had been an important one. Without it, rival groups could easily be created and have been. He liked that he was given so much authority and little oversight. He had aligned his ambitions and goals with that of the Organization, because it gave him the illusion of power. But now, he thought that was all it ever was: just an illusion. Maybe he was more of a puppet than Xion ever was. 

“That’s what I get for baring myself to others,” he thought bitterly as he found himself questioning everything he had ever known. “I show them my no-heart, and they promptly smash it to bits.” He laughed to himself at that thought. That was another thing: he had found by hanging around Roxas and Xion that he had experienced all kinds of feelings, not just the ones Xemnas had promoted, such as anger and pride. These were feelings that encouraged him to be more good-natured, although they ended up hurting him anyway. If Nobodies had no heart, how was it that he had any feelings at all?

xXx

Roxas had been walking aimlessly for hours, or so it seemed. Everything around him appeared to be moving so slowly, that it was as if time itself was coming to a crawl. The things Axel told him – how could they be true? He dared not ask another member of the Organization. If Axel was capable of deceiving him, so was everyone else. The emotions that he was experiencing were rushing at him like a wild torrent. He could barely stand up, let alone walk. He began staggering, with each step being less coordinated than the last until he finally fell down face forward, and everything turned black. He did not feel the impact of the ground. Rather, he felt like he fell into a void, and now he was just floating. He started to panic until he saw a speck of light. He scrambled for it, propelling himself forward as if he were swimming across a vast ocean. The light itself slowly got bigger but then rapidly expanded as if barreling towards him. He crossed his arms over his face, expecting the crash at any minute. Instead, he woke up, and when he came to, he saw a man that he had never met, yet all the same knew who he was. “Riku!” he called out. 

Riku lifted his head in response. “Recognize this place?” Riku asked. 

Roxas took a minute to look around. He was sitting on sand that was bleached as white as milk. Before him was a vast blue ocean that stretched endlessly. Behind him were a few wooden huts with straw thatched roofs. “Yeah... I do,” Roxas said. 

“This was Sora’s and my childhood home,” Riku explained. “This was where it all began.”

“Where what began?”

“The Darkness.” Riku stretched out his hand and pointed towards the ocean. When Roxas looked back out, he saw that the ocean was no longer blue, but rather a deep dark purple. The waters became animated, rushing forward and bubbling out. What came out of the bubbles were small distorted creatures that Roxas instantly recognized as the heartless. There were many of them, and they were swarming at him. Roxas quickly held his hand out to materialize the Keyblade, but he was panicking so much that nothing came forth. Just as they were about to overtake him, Riku stepped in, Keyblade in hand, and slashed away all the heartless. Soon it was just Riku and Roxas again. Roxas got up and produced the Keyblade, positioning himself in a fighting stance. Riku was unfazed by this. “So...,” Riku said, “you have the Keyblade too. That must mean you’re Roxas.”

“And you were instrumental in Xion’s demise!” Roxas raged.

“Xion did what she wanted to do. I never forced her to do anything.”

“But you made her think she had no choice! You manipulated her!”

“You mean the way the Organization manipulated you?”

“Shut up!” Roxas screamed and charged full force. Riku held up his Keyblade when Roxas’ came down on it. The two Keyblades clashed as Riku and Roxas tried to overpower each other. Roxas’ strength was fueled by hatred while Riku’s was fueled by his determination to protect his friend. “Everybody thinks they’re right,” Roxas cried. “Everyone thinks they know how others should live their lives! I deserve to be my own agent! This is my life! _Mine_!”

“You’re not seeing the bigger picture,” Riku countered as he struggled against Roxas. “There are things out there that are greater than you! I only wish you have more time to see that!”

As the two continued to battle, another familiar voice cropped up. “Hey guys, mind if I crash your party?” Axel said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

“This isn’t your fight, Axel!” Roxas shouted. 

“Oh, you’re right,” Axel replied in a wry tone. “Then I guess I’ll just watch you get obliterated. I’ll still be staying all the same.”

Axel’s presence had the effect on Riku that Axel was hoping for. Riku suddenly relented and backed off. “I don’t want to force you, Roxas,” Riku said, “but your time is limited, and if you wait too long, you won’t be in a position where you have a choice.” With those words, Riku disappeared. 

Roxas was going to go after Riku, but Axel pulled him back. “Whoa! What’s that about? Did he tell you what you were looking for?”

“Riku – it was because of him that Xion changed. He started it. He made Xion doubt herself and led her to her destruction. And now I will see to his!”

“So what, you’re going to try to kill everybody you think is responsible for Xion’s death? That's pretty reckless of you. Not to mention Riku’s an experienced warrior. You wouldn’t go far with him.”

“You know Riku?”

Axel mulled over his answer. “I knew Sora more.”

Roxas said nothing and walked off in a huff.

“Where are you going now?” Axel called out exasperatingly. 

“That’s none of your concern,” Roxas replied. 

“How’s that? You know that if you keep running, I’m going to have to keep chasing you, and I don’t feel like doing that.”

“Then don’t.”

“Roxas, stop!” Axel summoned a ring of fire that surrounded them so as to prevent Roxas from going any further. Roxas stopped dead on his tracks and backed away from the fire barrier. Much to Axel’s chagrin, however, he saw that Roxas was wielding the Keyblade once more, this time against Axel. “Oh, come on, now,” Axel groaned. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then let me go.”

Axel was getting annoyed. He felt like he was too old for this. Reluctantly, he produced his chakrams. If he was going to battle Roxas, he needed to be in that mindset. He found the source of his anger as he recalled a similar encounter with Xion. She had wanted to go too, and he had let her. At the time, he thought he was doing the right thing. Now he was not so sure. Perhaps if he had forced her to stay, she would still be here. Maybe he was the most responsible for her death. “You know, I’m so tired of you thinking you can do whatever you want, and there’s no consequence to any of it,” Axel cried. “You want to go? Then go! You just keep on running! But remember this – I’ll always be there to bring you back!” 

Roxas dashed at Axel as Axel did the same, and their weapons clashed. The two fought from within the circle of fire for a long time. Axel had been holding back his full force, but the endurance was wearing him out. Roxas, on the other hand, was excelling in that regard, and seemed to be gathering strength the longer the fight went on. “Enough!” Axel shouted, causing an explosion around him and thereby knocking Roxas on the ground. The Keyblade was thrown several feet away from him. Roxas tried to get up to retrieve the Keyblade, but before he could do so, Axel walked right up to him and stepped on his chest, pinning him to the ground. The harder Roxas tried to move, the deeper Axel’s heel dug into him. 

At last accepting his defeat, Roxas struggled for breath to speak and asked Axel, “Were we ever really friends?”

“Roxas, you’re everything to me,” Axel replied before knocking him out. 

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Axel's quote, "I will always be there to bring you back!" was actually addressed to Xion in the game, but I have always believed it was actually meant for Roxas. Their parting words as Roxas left the Organization was so... unsatisfying to put it mildly. I'm guessing that Axel might have been upset that he did not try hard enough to convince Roxas to stay, and so when he told Xion that he will always be there, he was addressing Roxas too (not to mention that he said, "You both think you can do whatever you want"). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that Axel's final scene with Xion had all the heightened emotions that should have been there for Roxas. I do not know if I had properly conveyed Axel's feelings towards Roxas here.


	27. A Means To An End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel tries to figure out what to do with Roxas. Saix accidentally blurts out an old memory.

“You’re a real pain, you know that? I wonder why I even bother.” Axel was talking to Roxas, who was lying unconscious in Axel’s arms. Without having a real plan in place, Axel decided to take Roxas back to Castle Oblivion to at least gather his thoughts and consider his next steps. It was the only place he knew where they could be safest, since returning him to the Organization could mean his annihilation for being a traitor, but to go anywhere else meant that Riku or some other warrior of Light could potentially find them. Axel decided to return to the Chamber of Repose. He wondered if putting a Nobody back into a pod would cause one to return to that condition of slumber. “I guess there’s only one way to find out,” he thought to himself and headed towards there. 

To his dismay, Axel found that another member of the Organization was already there. “Axel, what _not_ a surprise to see you here.”

“Saix,” Axel replied miserably. He went behind one of the pods, hoping that he could keep Roxas hidden from view. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was scouting for new potential members since our numbers have decreased a lot lately. So many traitors. Very few people understand the concept of loyalty, don’t you agree?”

“I guess,” Axel muttered. He was not in the mood for small conversations and had an irksome feeling that Saix was trying to delay him on purpose.

“But you _do_ know, Axel! You’ve had a direct hand in their demise. You were quite proud of it too, if I’m not mistaken. You used to say that nothing was more important than advancing the mission of the Organization. Remember that?”

“Hmmph,” Axel scoffed. “You took that to mean that nothing was more important than advancing _your_ rank among the Organization. I had cut down everyone that threatened _your_ favor with Xemnas. Got it memorized?”

“I do. And I appreciated that. But what now, Axel? There’s a change in you. You’ve become more distant. Just brooding all the time.”

“Well, what’s it to you? You got what you wanted. What’s it to you how I act when I perform my duties?”

“I think you keep things from me.”

“Like you don’t?”

“There’s a rogue among us.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It’s Roxas.”

Axel kept his mouth shut. He knew he was being baited, and he did not like where the conversation was headed.

“Of course, you knew that, didn’t you,” Saix continued, carefully studying Axel’s expression in hopes that it would give something away. “That’s why you stayed away these past few days. He was a deserter, and you knew it, so you went after him to cover his tracks; otherwise you would have told us, just like you told us about Xion.”

Axel again proffered nothing.

“Did you find him?” When he saw that he was not getting a response from Axel, Saix finally blurted out, “He’s with you right now, isn’t he?”

Axel’s eyes widened to unwittingly betray his secret. As Saix began walking towards him, Axel picked Roxas up and backed away. “Axel...,” Saix teased in a singsong voice. “You _know_ what we do to rogues. I’m willing to overlook this one transgression from you despite everything, but Roxas is dangerous to us now. He will work against us. You have to destroy him.”

Axel continued to move away. When it became clear to Saix that he was not going to get through to Axel, his cajoling attitude gave way to petulant impatience. “If you won’t kill Roxas, I will!” Saix fumed. Saix produced his claymore, showing that he intended to make good on that promise. In response, Axel produced his chakrams, but instead of engaging in combat, he threw them at Saix before fleeing the chamber with Roxas. Saix chased after them down the hall and flung his claymore at Axel. His weapon hit Axel on the back, causing him to stumble and fall. When Axel saw Saix approaching, he summoned a firewall around him and Roxas to prevent Saix from coming any closer to them.

“You know, I don’t understand you,” Saix seethed, peering through the protective flames. “You’re willing to give up your life _that_ easily for a boy you’ve only known _for a year_?”

“It’s not about how long I’ve known him. He’s my friend. If I can’t fight for what I care about, there’s no point in fighting at all.”

“And what about us? We were friends at one time too, Lea.”

“I hardly think–” Axel started but then stopped. “Wait– What did you call me?”

“I called you Lea,” Saix said. “That was your name when we were still human. Before we became Nobodies.”

Axel’s eyes darted back and forth in a mental scan of his memories. Then they finally widened in revelation. “Isa...,” he gasped. “That seemed so long ago! I thought I completely forgot!”

“What, didn’t memorize it?”

Axel gave Saix a wry smile. “You know, when we first arrived to the Organization, I didn’t care about anything. My purpose was whatever the Organization said it was. But then when Roxas came along, things became different. I started to feel alive again. They’re not just memories, Saix – I _know_ what it’s like to have a heart, because Roxas gave me one. Isn’t that the whole reason we’re trying to complete Kingdom Hearts? To get hearts of our very own?”

Saix considered Axel’s point and reluctantly backed off. It appeared that Saix and Axel came to an understanding. “Well, what is he going to do when he wakes up?” Saix asked.

Axel sadly shook his head. “I don’t know. We didn’t really part in the best of terms. I think Roxas is broken ever since Xion’s been gone. I wish I knew how to fix him, but I don’t think I can.”

Saix mulled it over. “Maybe there is a way we can do without destroying him. You might not like it, though.”

“What is it?”

Saix explained to Axel that the Replica Program was inside the castle. Unfortunately, it would be too risky to replicate Roxas again due to his current memories of the Organization. He would likely not be a viable member and could, in fact, become their enemy. However, they can use aspects of the Replica Program’s process to erase Roxas’ memories. “If I do this, Lea, he won’t remember our Organization, and he won’t remember you either. Whatever you hold precious about him will be gone.”

Axel thought about this. He knew that, moving forward, their relationship would have never been the same again regardless, even if Roxas could ever overcome his grief about Xion and remain loyal to the Organization. It was even likely that he and Roxas would grow apart, much like what happened between Axel and Saix. But this was not about what Roxas had to offer Axel. In making this decision, Axel wanted to ensure that it was to Roxas’ benefit. Axel felt that it was better for his friendship with Roxas to end than to have Roxas disappear entirely. He asked, though, if Saix was able to create for Roxas new memories and have him placed in a digital world where everyone’s knowledge of him was consistent with Roxas’ artificial memories. It would give Roxas a chance to experience life as a kid. Saix said that he would try. Axel and Saix agreed that they would tell Xemnas that Roxas had been eradicated. Axel still had it in his mind that he will make it a personal mission to find Sora so that he can kill him. Even if he had a small chance of recovering Roxas, that was enough for Axel to keep going. He longed for the day that the two of them could be reunited, maybe look back at their past and laugh, as if it had been one silly dream. 

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was the original ending to my short story on 358/2 days, hence the title of the Chapter. I enjoyed writing this fanfic so much, that I just kept going. If you stuck this far, thank you.


	28. As Much Fun As Possible Before School Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas wakes up to a new life and has eerie feelings.

Roxas woke up earlier than usual today. Although for the past month, it was typical of him to stay in bed until almost noon, this time he wanted to make the most out of his day. There was only one week left before school started, and he needed to make sure that he had as much fun as possible with his friends before that happened.

He got up and opened his bedroom window to take in the view of the town. Twilight Town was a neat place, but there was little to do as far as entertainment was concerned. The town was mostly known for its train station, which seemed to only go in a circle. There were connected tunnels underground so that, if people desired, they could walk to their destinations as an alternative. The town seemed to be, for some reason, under a perpetual sunset, giving the sky a constant hue of red. Maybe that was why the place was called Twilight Town. Red…

He felt like he has not been himself lately, like he was always in a dreamlike state. He would awaken from a dream that he could never remember but the effects of the dream would still linger on. He was hoping that spending more time with his friends would help him snap out of it. Roxas went to the usual spot behind the alley, where his friends Hayner, Pence, and Ollette had been waiting. They had found a little niche in the alley where they could create a hangout. It contained a couch and a dart board. The walls were covered with posters of their favorite sport, Struggle. When he arrived at the usual spot, he found his friends mumbling to each other. Apparently, there had been strange occurrences happening lately. Things would go missing only to reappear in another area. They would also experience what they thought was a time skip, in which they would be at a place one moment and then at another place seconds later. As they told Roxas this, his eyes widened. “You guys too?” he exclaimed. He was relieved that he was not going crazy after all. Still, it was rather alarming that their very sense of reality appeared to be threatened.

“You know what I think, Roxas,” Pence said. “I think that there is some outside force that’s doing these things on purpose, and they’re doing it because… they don’t want us to have fun during our last days of summer!” Everyone laughed. Pence was always good for breaking the tension. A boy of fourteen, he was a little heavy set, and what he lacked in physical fitness he certainly made up for in both humor and intelligence.

Hayner was the unspoken leader of the group. He was the tallest one and had well-toned arms that he loved showing off in sleeveless shirts and jean vests. “Well, we won’t let them do that now, will we?” he said wryly. “I know how to make us all feel better: let’s go to the Struggle Tournament!” They all cheered and ran out. “See y’all at the Sandlot!”

Roxas hung back a little to regain his bearings. “Roxas,” he heard a voice whisper.

“Huh?” The voice seemed so close that he could feel it rustling over his ear, yet when he turned to the direction of the sound, there was nobody there. Spooked, he quickly ran out and shouted after his friends to wait up.

xXx

The Struggle Tournament was one of the only forms of entertainment that the whole town loved to participate in. It consisted of what looks like a boxing ring where they would run around and hit each other with the foam bats. The struggle was between two people, and the last person standing would win the round.

As they were running to the Sandlot, they came across Seifer and his gang. Seifer was the decided nemesis of Hayner’s. They were always quick to trade insults with one another in school and at any public event where they happened to cross paths. “Hey, _losers_ ,” Seifer sneered at Hayner and his friends. “You’re not thinking about participating in the Struggle Tournament, are you? ‘Cause if so, you don’t have a chance!”

“Nobody beats Seifer, ya know!” one of his lackeys jeered.

“Tough talk for someone whose hasn’t practiced!” Roxas snapped back. “Guess you were too busy looking in the mirror!”

Seifer turned his attention to Roxas. “Them’s fighting words, Roxas!” he taunted. “Put up or shut up!”

The two of them held up their fists to prepare for combat while their friends egged them on. Roxas and Seifer duked it out. While, admittedly, Seifer threw the harder punches, Roxas was the swifter of the two and hence was able to land more blows. Just before Seifer looked like he was about to go down, he ran out from within their fighting circle and came back with a large tree branch. “Hey, Roxas, evade _this_!” he jeered.

Roxas’ friends gasped. “Seifer, that’s cheating!” Ollette cried.

“Hold on, Roxas!” Hayner shouted. He grabbed a nearby stick and threw it to him. “Catch!”

Roxas held out his hand. Suddenly everything started to move in slow motion. “What’s happening?” he thought. He looked around and saw that everyone’s faces were now blurred. Seifer, who was coming after Roxas in mid-swing, was now at a complete standstill. The stick was slowly twirling in the air. Roxas reached out to grab it. To his surprise, the stick transformed into a giant blade that looked like a key. “What is this?” It felt strangely familiar, although he could have sworn he had never seen it before. When he returned to Seifer, he saw that to his horror, it was not Seifer anymore. Instead, what took his place was a purplish black, oozing monster. The vile creature grabbed for him, and Roxas saw that right where the creature took a hold of him, he began to assimilate with the creature. “Get away!” Roxas yelled and struck the creature with his blade.

The creature let a loud, agonizing shriek. “What are you doing?!” It was the voice of a boy. The creature had transformed back to Seifer, who was now sprawled on the ground in pain. Roxas had hit him so hard on the knee that Seifer was barely able to get up to walk.

“Were you trying to kill him?” one of his friends called out angrily as they retreated with Seifer in tow.

Roxas’ friend whooped and hollered in celebration. “That was amazing, Roxas!” beamed Pence.

“How did you learn how to fight like that?” Ollette marveled.

Roxas was still trying to process what had just happened. “I don’t know,” he confessed.

“The modesty in this one is too much!” Pence said. They all laughed as they proceeded to the Sandlot.

“Good for you, Roxas.” From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a tall black figure with spiky red hair. When he turned towards it, there was nothing there.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are now in Kingdom Hearts II territory. For the most part, I tried to stay faithful here to KHII's intro. It is so good, and I wanted to make sure that I capture the essence of how Roxas felt as well as how I felt when I first experienced Roxas' story.


	29. The Heartless Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saix mulls over his past relationship with Axel and gives him warning about his newfound activities.

Ever since their most recent time in Castle Oblivion, things became awkward between Axel and Saix. For his part, Saix considered Axel’s belief that they were able to develop hearts as Nobodies a difficult concept to grasp, however contagious. Nobodies, by essence, did not have hearts. They were what their human counterparts left behind when they died, a shadow of what once was. But Axel’s demonstration of humanity through his compassion for Roxas was so strong that Saix reflexively blurted out something that he had thought was otherwise lost and forgotten: he called Axel by his human name, Lea. Axel likewise ended up remembering that Saix’s human name was Isa. Unfortunately, they could not remember anything past the names, but Saix recalled the feelings associated with the names. They were not the formidable foes that they had played themselves out to be during their length of time in the Organization. They were, at one time, friends. He remembered that as Isa, he thought of Lea as admirable, trustworthy, and fun. He wondered what Axel thought of Isa.

Saix dared not discuss this with Axel as he did not want to cross boundaries. Being in command of the Organization second to Xemnas required a certain level of distance, a mystique as it were, between those in authority and the underlings who carried out their orders. Revealing any kind of vulnerability would only cause one to question his authority; although, truth be told, he did not think Axel ever respected it anyway, as Axel never seemed to run short of eye rolls and sneers, which Axel had made sure Saix noticed. Saix knew that it annoyed Axel that he was his superior, although Axel would never admit it. Because of this, Saix would sometimes tease Axel, hoping to get a rise out of him, and Axel in turn would provide sarcastic quips. Nowadays, the only time Saix would ever speak to Axel was when he gave him orders, and at best Axel would mumble a response of acknowledgement as he trudged away. Saix would always feel like he wanted to say something else to him, only to think better of it at the last second. It seemed like they were no longer able to have artificial or real interactions. For someone that Saix talked to every day, he never knew he could miss Axel so terribly.

Axel, on the other hand, would only engage in solitary activities between missions. He continued to go to the Clock Tower every evening at sunset with his sea salt ice-cream. As painful as it was, he wanted to reflect on his memories of Roxas and Xion. In this way, he could somehow keep their friendship alive, even if it was now only imaginary. He would not dare talk about them to anyone. They had become a stench to the Organization; even the mere mention of their names would send Xemnas on a warpath. They were labeled the worst of the worst traitors because so much of the Organization’s missions rested on them.

One day, Axel wandered into the lounging area, where Saix happened to be. Demyx was the only other member there, mindlessly tuning his sitar as always. “It feels so good to get away from those loudmouths!” he declared more or less to himself. Roughly half the Organization were gone at this point.

“I hope _I_ wasn’t one of those loudmouths you’re referring to,” Axel proclaimed from behind Demyx, grabbing him by the shoulder.

Axel’s sudden presence startled Demyx so much that he almost jumped from his seat. When Demyx turned around, a look of disappointment crossed his face. “Oh, it’s you,” he muttered. “No, I was thinking more along the lines of some of our bossier co-workers, like Zexion. His constant barrage of unwanted opinions is enough to drive anyone crazy.”

“He was just telling it like it is,” Axel replied coolly. “No one can deny that you really are lazy.”

“Lazy… or smart?” suggested Demyx with an arch of his eyebrow.

“Pawning off your workload doesn’t make you smart, Demyx. It makes you useless.”

“When I’m _really_ needed, I’ll go.”

“You’re never _really_ needed.”

“Hey, I’m powerful when I want to be!”

“Are you nuts?” Axel laughed. “Controlling water doesn’t make you powerful!”

“Water beats fire, stupid!”

“Oh, yeah?” Axel summoned a ring of fire while Demyx conjured up waves. Every time the two elements met, it instantly smoked up the room. The waves eventually overwhelmed the fire and completely drenched Axel. Furious, Axel summoned his chakrams, which could not produce fire because they were wet. That did not stop Axel from making a mad dash at Demyx and smacking him in the face with his chakrams. “My weapons are better than yours!” Axel growled.

“Hey! Lay off!” Demyx protested as he tried to shield himself from Axel’s wrath.

“Stop it, you idiots!” Saix shouted. Saix grabbed Axel and threw him off Demyx. “What are you supposed to do, anyway?” he asked Demyx.

Demyx just tittered nervously and shrugged.

“Well, then go away and pretend you’re busy.”

Sheepishly, Demyx created a dark portal and disappeared into it.

Now that Axel and Saix were alone, Saix seized the opportunity to discuss what was most pressing on his mind. The subject of Roxas was the biggest elephant between them. What Saix did for Axel was nothing short of treason. “Axel, I noticed that you have been spending a lot of time at Castle Oblivion in between missions.”

“So? How I spend my free time is no one else’s business.”

“You don’t want to arouse any suspicion, do you? Our lives are on the line.”

Axel shrugged. “Some life.”

Saix decided to change gears. “It is important to leave Roxas alone. We don’t want to take the chance that his location is discovered.”

Axel sighed, knowing that Saix was not going to give up that easily. “I’m not visiting Roxas just for the fun of it. I mean, sometimes I do to make sure he’s okay; but I’m worried that he’s already been discovered. I’ve noticed a spike of glitches in the digital world and also recent heartless activity.”

“What? Why didn’t you say so before? All right, I’ll assign all your next missions to Castle Oblivion. Do whatever you can to get Roxas out of there!”

xXx


	30. Struggling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas participates in the Struggle Tournament and encounters a familiar face.

Roxas signed up for the Struggle Tournament with the encouragement of his friends. They figured that only one of them had to win the much coveted trophy. It contained four different gems, or as they would put it, one for each of them. Hayner signed up for the competition as well. “We’ll be fighting against each other, Roxas,” Hayner reminded him. “May the better man win.”

“Absolutely,” Roxas replied. They shook hands to show that it was all for good sport.

Due to their earlier scuffle, Seifer was indisposed and withdrew from the match. Although Roxas felt bad about what happened, his friends reassured him that Seifer got what came to him for playing dirty. This was the first year that Roxas and Hayner were participating in the game. All other participants were quite experienced, with one formidable competitor, Setzer, standing out the most. He held the title as Struggle Champion for the past eight years and was considered the town hero. People were flocking around him, chanting his name and begging for an autograph. He was also about a head taller than everybody else, so despite the crowd, Roxas was able to make eye contact with Setzer, who nodded his way and offered a devilish grin.

All the competitors gathered around the referee who went over the rules of Struggle. Because this will be the first year either Hayner or Roxas had ever participated, they were going first. Each subsequent round will involve winners of other rounds, concluding with Setzer himself.

“Just remember, I won’t go easy on you,” Hayner jabbed.

“Neither will I,” Roxas retorted.

Hayner was no real competition for Roxas, who was both faster and stronger. When Hayner was defeated, he appeared stunned, but later shrugged it off. To show no hard feelings, Hayner offered, “Go get him, Roxas!” He patted him on the back and stepped out of the ring.

The game itself was not meant to cause any injuries. Each round only lasted for sixty seconds and if both competitors were still standing by the end, the winner was judged on who made the most contact. The foam bats had special coatings on them that would leave a mark on someone once contacted. Roxas went through every round with relative ease and almost no markings due to his ability to dodge attacks. The crowd was going wild for this newfound celebrity. Noticing this, Setzer took Roxas aside before their match. “If you throw the fight, I promise I’ll make it worth your while,” he murmured. “But if you decide not to, I’ll use my full energy on you.”

“He’s psyching you out, Roxas.”

“Huh?” Roxas looked around. They were surrounded by people, all yelling and cheering, but none seemed close enough to speak to him to so clearly from behind. Setzer, at any rate, did not seem to hear anything, as he appeared more focused on Roxas. “So do we have a deal?” Setzer asked.

Roxas stared him down. “Do your worse,” he challenged.

A scowl emerged on what was an otherwise pleasant-looking face. “All right, you ask for it!”

When the two of them entered the ring, as soon as the bell sounded, Setzer made a mad dash at him. “Whoa!” Roxas cried as he back-flipped out of the way. “This guy is really serious!” he thought.

Roxas swung the bat at Setzer, who quickly dodged the impending blow and made another mad dash, striking Roxas against the chest and nearly knocking him over. To regain his balance, Roxas did another back flip. At this point, Roxas began to panic. He ran around the ring for half the round, all the while trying to dodge Setzer’s attacks. This felt oddly familiar. Roxas knew that if he spent the rest of the round dodging Setzer, he was going to lose, as Setzer had already managed to hit him once while Roxas had not managed a single strike. He did not want to let his friends down, who at that point were excitedly screaming and telling Roxas to keep running. No, he did not want to do that. So, with the round winding down to the last five seconds, Roxas turned around and struck Setzer in the face as hard as he could. The full force of Setzer moving forward and the momentum from Roxas’ swing made a large crashing sound, throwing Setzer completely off balance and falling flat on his back. The crowd erupted in cheers. His friends were now jumping up and down hysterically. Roxas had won. He turned to the crowd and raised his arms up in victory.

All of a sudden, the place started to spin. At first it was moving quickly but then slowed down to an infinite crawl. “Oh, no! Not again!” Roxas gasped. When he turned to the center of the ring, he saw that the supine body of Setzer’s was gone, and taking his place was another black gelatinous monster, this time much bigger than the first. He looked at his hand where he had been holding the foam bat. It had transformed into the keyblade like before.

The monster charged at him, taking long swipes as he moved forward. Roxas slashed at the monster with his keyblade, hitting him with rapid successions. The monster fell over briefly, but after quickly regaining his bearings, he grabbed Roxas and threw him. The monster’s throw was so powerful, that Roxas flew completely out of the ring and fell to the ground. This stunned Roxas, who was now struggling to get up.

Another figure stepped in. It was tall and wearing a long black coat with the hood covering the face. Holding out his hands, he produced two chakrams that were lit on fire. The hooded figure lunged at the monster and slashed at it with his chakrams. Each time the monster looked like it was about to weaken, he would suddenly regain his strength and knock back the hooded figure. The figure staggered up and once more held out his hands. This time, several silver little beings raised out of the ground, twisting and writhing and looking like they were made out of some kind of metallic paper. With a flick of his wrist, the hooded figure summoned those creatures to rush the monster. In a uniform motion, they enveloped the monster. The hooded figure produced his chakrams again and threw them at the monster, who was now completely covered by the silver creatures. This time, the monster caught on fire and was completely incinerated, along with the silver creatures.

The hooded figure approached Roxas, who that entire time had watched the battle in total disbelief. “Who are you? _What_ are you?” Roxas cried.

The figure tossed off his hood to reveal a shock of spiky red hair. “Hello!” he said cheerily, flashing a cheesy grin at Roxas. “The name is Axel. Got it memorized?” Roxas recognized the voice. It was the same voice he had heard sometimes when he thought nobody was there. Axel’s levity did not last long. “Sorry to crash your party, but I’m going to need you to come with me.”

Roxas backed away. “I don’t even know what’s going on!” he protested.

Axel took on a more serious tone. “That wasn’t a request. I don’t have time to explain.” He approached Roxas rather quickly but halted midstride when Roxas picked up the Keyblade in preparation to fight. Axel was getting annoyed. “Roxas, stop being difficult. If you want, I can tell you all about it later, but now –”

He was interrupted by a sudden shift. It appeared as if the very fabric of time was about to be torn apart. The world around them, which up until that moment was in suspended motion, was now starting to move again, but it was jerking forward in inconsistent waves. “Ugh,” Axel groaned. He reached out to grab Roxas, but Roxas stepped back again, Keyblade still in hand. Axel thought about fighting him but then reconsidered. “Very well,” he replied coolly. “If you won’t go with me now, I’ll have to come for you later. I got to deal with this first.” With that, a dark portal opened up. Axel stepped into it and saluted a farewell.

As soon as Axel disappeared, the world started to move like normal. Roxas was back in the ring and Setzer was once again lying before his feet. It was as if that whole incident with the monster and his meeting with Axel never happened. His friends ran into the ring to congratulate him. The referee handed him the trophy. Roxas took the trophy and held it over his head, joining in the celebration.

xXx

That evening, Roxas, Hayner, Ollette, and Pence hung out at the top of the Clock Tower and enjoyed sea salt ice-cream, Roxas’ favorite. “So when are we going to do our independent study report?” Ollette asked. “We only have six more days before school starts!”

“Yeah,” conceded Hayner sadly. “What should we do the independent study on?”

“Maybe we can do it about the history of this town,” Pence offered. “You want to know what I heard? I heard that at the Central Station there’s a set of stairs that has a different number of steps going up than coming down.”

“No way!” Hayner retorted. “That’s not possible. Who told you that?”

“Hmm, you know, I think it may have been that lunkhead in Seifer’s gang!” They all laughed.

Roxas had been quietly admiring the trophy all that while. The gems were of four different colors – red, blue, green, and yellow. Roxas plucked out the red gem and handed the trophy to Hayner, who was sitting next to him. Hayner did the same thing until each of them had their own gem in their hand. “Hold it up to the light,” Ollette exclaimed. “It shines when you do!” Everyone held up their respective gems, admiring the colors. Roxas was glad that he got to end an otherwise stressful day in such a peaceful way. He wished this moment lasted forever. He was not exactly looking forward to school, although that was not what he was most concerned about. He was afraid that there was a real possibility that everything he knew would go away. He wanted this moment to last forever so that he did not have to lose it.

xXx


	31. Power Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xigbar gets annoyed of Axel.

A state-of-the-art world simulation required a lot of maintenance to keep glitches out of the system. Axel was alarmed that lately its programs appeared overwhelmed, consistently running at nearly 100% capacity. He had already figured that the heartless had been invading its world, but there was something else he could not quite make out. The heartless, he reasoned, should not be drawing this much power.

As a result of the growing number of problems that were cropping up, Axel found himself spending a considerable amount of time with the computers in the control room, where the simulation was operating. This irked Xigbar because his job required using the control room for reconnaissance. “What _are_ you doing over there that you find so fascinating?” Xigbar finally decided to ask one day. “This can’t be part of your mission, hmm?” He said this as casually as he could so that his annoyance was not so obvious.

Axel scowled. “Xigbar, when all is said and done with Kingdom Hearts, I would like to have more on my resume than just expert on martial arts and pyrotechnics, wouldn’t you?”

“Expert’s debatable,” Xigbar teased, but Axel ignored him. “So what, you want to be a computer programmer?”

“Maybe. It’s not set in stone.”

“Well, you can’t do this somewhere else?”

Axel smirked at him as he sensed Xigbar’s growing irritation. “I need _all_ the power this control room has to offer. You don’t need it now, do you? I can always come back.”

“No, no – by all means, take your time,” Xigbar said calmly and walked out of the room.

Later on that day, Axel pressed Saix for more time. “What?!” Saix fumed. “How much time do you need? It’s already limited as is!”

“It’s not that easy!” seethed Axel. “Roxas alone draws a lot of processing power. Each person that enters the simulation doubles that. It can risk a complete crash to the system.”

Saix stood toe-to-toe with Axel. “Don’t dawdle! Are you forgetting that we’re risking our own lives as well? If this operation is discovered, I won’t go down with you! You will be on your own!”

Axel smirked. He did not like that there was so much tension building up between them, particularly since he needed to keep Saix as an ally. “I have everything under control,” he soothed. “You won’t have to worry about _your_ hide.” Just as he was leaving, he said, almost as an afterthought, “Oh, and maybe assign Xigbar missions _away_ from the control room. I can’t have him breathing down my back too.”

xXx

Xigbar made his way to Xemnas’ chambers. He had been utterly disgusted with how the Organization had been run lately. With their numbers dwindling, it seemed like the more junior members were running amok and Xemnas did not have anything to say about it. The loss of Xion and then Roxas had been the biggest blow so far. It brought down the morale of everyone.

“What say you, Xigbar?” Xemnas asked as Xigbar wordlessly entered in the room.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Xigbar shot back. “Where are we heading now?”

“Without a Keyblade master, we don’t need to worry,” Xemnas assured him. “The completion of Kingdom Hearts can wait.”

“And what makes you so confident?”

“Darkness always has the upper hand, you know. And guess what is returning? The heartless are growing in numbers. Hollow Bastion will be back before we know it.”

Xigbar grinned. The Darkness was returning. As long as there is no interference, there will always Darkness.

xXx


	32. The Seventh Wonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas confronts another character on his way to the train station.

Roxas and his friends decided that they were going to explore Twilight Town and investigate the secrets that the town held. Supposedly, there were Seven Wonders that can be found within the town, things that could be considered magical or bizarre. They planned on writing their reports on their findings and hope that this was good enough to be considered an independent study. Roxas was really looking forward to today. Truth of the matter was, lately he had been feeling alienated, like he did not belong. He was not sure if it had anything to do with the bizarre events of the past two days. His friends did not seem to be affected by them at all. Everybody appeared so happy and carefree, while Roxas was brooding and melancholic. He was doing his best to snap out of it, laughing and carrying on with Hayner, who was telling jokes on their way to Central Station to ride the train.

Suddenly, Roxas bumped into someone. It was so rough, that he thought the person had deliberately pushed him. He turned around to see who it was, but the man, dressed in a blue cloak and a large brimmed hat, was walking away at a brisk pace. Instinctively, Roxas put his hand in his pocket, and with a sinking feeling realized that he had been mugged. His train ticket was gone! “Hey!” Roxas called out to the cloaked figure, who was ever increasing the distance between them. “Hey!” Feeling like he had no other option, he decided to run after him. Roxas heard his friends calling for him to come back, but he ignored them. He did not believe that the encounter was incidental. He was convinced that everything that had been happening to him was serving some singular purpose, but what that was, he did not know.

Roxas imagined that the man wanted to be followed. Whenever the distance was so great that Roxas would lose sight of him, he would re-emerge in view and then walk away again as soon as Roxas started moving towards him. At some point, he took Roxas to a little side street. Roxas paused. The side street was dark, desolate, and with no way to call for help if Roxas’ life was in danger. It was now obvious that he wanted to be followed, as he was motioning with his head for Roxas to move forward. “Who are you?” Roxas shouted. But the latter continued to beckon silently, and when Roxas did not move, he turned a corner. “If someone really wants me to die, I’m doomed anyway,” Roxas thought to himself, and proceeded to run towards him. When Roxas came close enough, he realized that he was not led to a corner, but rather a hole in the wall that opens up to the outer limits of Twilight Town. Peering in, all he saw was a thick forest of luscious evergreens. There was a very narrow, winding path through the trees. Roxas saw his beckoner up ahead and followed very tentatively. The man had slowed down his pace so that the gap between them was getting shorter and shorter until they finally entered a clearing. At this point, he stopped, turned around, and for the first time Roxas was very clearly able to see his face. It was a much older gentleman, his face covered in a mask made of red leather with a black X at the center. What peaked through were yellowed eyes. They appeared weathered, yet kind. A small smile broke out as he handed back to Roxas his train ticket. Accepting the ticket back, Roxas asked again, “Who are you?”

“That’s not important,” he replied. “What is important is that I know who you are.” The voice was low but had a regal and melodious quality to it, like someone with great authority.

“Well, what name do you want me to call you?”

“Call me Diz.”

“That’s not your real name, is it?”

“Most people know me as Diz. For reasons I cannot share with you, my real name must be kept a secret.”

“If you can’t trust me with your real name, why should I trust you with anything you have to say?”

“I’m not asking you to trust; just listen. Roxas, you are trapped in a digital world. Nothing you see here is real, but a simulation of what you once knew. There is a group called the Organization that kept you here from knowing your true self and to hide you from everyone else. Only now I have found you, because the heartless is attracted to what you possess.”

“And what do I possess?”

Diz smiled again. “Hold out your hand.” When Roxas held out his hand, the Keyblade materialized. “That.”

Roxas examined the Keyblade and marveled at it. “This isn’t a dream!” he gasped. “This is real! But why does this organization want to prevent me from knowing my true identity? How does that threaten them?”

Before Diz could provide a response, a dark portal appeared, from which Axel stepped out of. “Virus!” he growled at Diz. “So _you’re_ the one crashing the system!” Axel turned earnestly to Roxas. “He means to harm you, Roxas. Don’t let him deceive you! Come with me now!”

“Roxas, it’s the Organization!” Diz gasped. “Their intent is only for evil! You must resist!”

“Roxas!”

“Roxas!”

They were screaming his name over and over. Their voices were now roaring in his head like crashing waves. Everything started spinning. He saw a tunnel and a train moving towards him at full speed, its lights blinding him and the whistle blasting. It was going to hit him. “Stop!” Roxas screamed, as he held onto his head and collapsed on the ground. When he felt the full impact, suddenly everything went dark.

“Roxas! Roxas!”

Roxas felt his face hard-pressed against the ground. The position of how he was lying down on it was hurting his jaw, but otherwise nothing seemed to be broken.

“Roxas! Roxas!”

Ollette, Pence, and Hayner came running to him at the clearing. They helped him up. “Roxas, why did you run?” Ollette asked in consternation. “We had to follow you to make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah, we missed the train now,” Hayner added. Ollette gave Hayner a dirty look.

“Hey, guys, do you know where we are?” Pence cried. “It’s the Seventh Wonder!”

As they proceeded a little further beyond the clearing, they came upon a huge white mansion with a black fence. The mansion looked decrepit with overgrown weeds. “The Abandoned Mansion!” cried Pence. “They say, though, that if you look long enough, you’ll see movement in the upper right hand window!” They stared at the window for several minutes. Suddenly, they saw a drape rustle. “It’s just a draft! Just a draft!” they said to each other and laughed. Then they went to the gate to open it but were dismayed to see that it was locked.

“So much for our independent study report,” Hayner muttered.

“We can still do the report! We’ll talk about our experience here and look up information in the library!” Pence suggested.

“Great idea, Pence!” Ollette chirped. “Let’s get to it right away!”

As the four of them walked off, Roxas turned to the window for one last look. The curtain rustled again, and this time the face of a girl appeared.

xXx


	33. The Point of No Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas meets Sora and must say good-bye.

Later on that night, Roxas had a dream. He was once again at the Abandoned Mansion and looking at the window. The girl appeared again. “Roxas,” she called out. “Listen to Diz. He guided you to this place. Return to it, and you will find what you’re looking for.”

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Namine,” she replied. “Come find me.”

Roxas opened his eyes. It was still night time, much to his dismay. What little sleep he had was constantly being plagued with vivid dreams of people he had encountered within the last few days. Was it the world that was truly fake, or were they? At any rate, it did not seem like it can hold true that both were real. One was opposing the other. Roxas got up, deciding that it did not matter whether or not he had no sleep, especially if the world was not real. He thought about his friends – Pence, Hayner, and Ollette. It panged him how much he was going to miss them. They were supposed to go to the beach later on today. Now, he doubted that he will ever make it. If his fears proved false, he will see them again; but if not, he did not have the heart to tell them good-bye.

Roxas trekked through Twilight Town’s winding roads, to the hole in the wall on the edge of town, and through the forest. When he at last arrived to the mansion, he was surprised that the gate was not locked. Opening it produced such a loud creaking sound that he startled himself and looked around to ensure that he was not being followed. As he approached the front porch a sudden wave of sadness came over him. He could not help but feel like he had lost something dear to him at this very spot. He hesitated at the door. “Do I really want to find out what they have for me?” he thought. Then he realized that he probably did not have a choice anyway. With some resolve, he pushed forward. The interior itself was not much to look at. He supposed that in its better days, it was more glamorous. It still retained a sort of rustic charm due to the red walls and wooden paneling. There was no furniture except an occasional random end table. Before him stood a grand staircase that started as one flight of stairs and then branched out into two going opposite directions. He chose the one heading to the right, as it was from the upper right window that he saw Namine’s face yesterday.

When he opened the door, he saw that the interior of this room was completely different from the rest of the house, as if it belonged to another building. From wall to floor, it was all white. At the center of the room was a long white table with white chairs at either end.

A string of drawings that hung on one wall caught his attention. The drawings themselves looked like elementary doodling with crayons, yet their characterizations were clear. In one picture, he saw a boy that plainly represented himself holding the Keyblade as he was about to attack a black, purplish blob. In another he saw himself standing face to face with a tall figure dressed in black and red spiky hair that he knew was Axel. This must have represented their confrontation. There was a third picture that he felt was quite puzzling. This one had all three figures in a black coat. The one in the middle that had yellow hair was himself, the one to the right was Axel with his red hair, but… who was the one on his left? This one stood a little shorter than the others and had short black hair. He stared at it for a very long time. Although it had no facial features to speak of, he felt quite attracted to it and sensed a strong yet unspeakable connection. Why did he feel this way about a blurry figure that he did not know? And why was he wearing a black coat, like Axel? Why were they just standing there side by side?

“You know her, Roxas.”

Roxas looked up. It was the girl from the window, Namine. She got up from the other end of the room and walked towards him. She had pale, yellow hair and wore a simple white dress with white shoes. Now that he can see her closely, he sensed that there was something about her in the face that he recognized, but he could not make out where he had seen her before.

“She was a part of you, much like you are a part of someone else.”

“Her name was Xion,” Roxas breathed. It was an automatic response. The mention of her name sent him quivering. Yes, he did know her! But he could not place where he knew her from in his memories. “Namine… Diz said that this is a digital world. If I leave it… will I find her?”

“Yes, but not in a way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you want to know who you are a part of?”

“Okay, who am I a part of?” He could not tell if she was changing the subject or if this was leading to the answer.

Namine smiled and took his hand. “Diz created an opening here so that you may go directly to him.”

“Who?”

“Sora.”

Roxas trembled. Memories came rushing into his mind. They were hard to distinguish from one another. It was like watching multiple movies at once and at ten times the speed. Sora, Riku, Kairi. Xion, Axel. Those were all names that he knew, and everyone had a face. Roxas fell to his knees. “I don’t understand. Where do I fit in?”

Namine was still holding onto his hand when he fell, so she pulled him back up. “You’re so important to him. Sora needs you to wake up.”

Roxas turned to her. “He’s asleep? Where?”

“I’ll take you to him.”

Together, they walked down the stairs to the first floor. Right underneath the stairs was a small unassuming door privately tucked away. Namine pulled out a key and unlocked it. They descended another set of stairs and were now in the basement. When she turned on the light from above them, he saw a cement room with nothing in it but a single portal. The portal itself appeared to be brightly lit or sheer white in color. Roxas continued to move forward but Namine stopped. “You won’t come with me?” Roxas asked.

Namine shook her head. “I can’t. I’m just a digital version of Namine that Diz created. I can’t leave the program. But you can. You are real.”

Roxas approached the portal with a sense of apprehension. He realized that this was the point of no return. When he stepped through the portal, he could feel it pulling him in. It was gingerly at first, but the further he went in, the stronger the force had become. Finally, he felt like he had been completely sucked out of the world he used to know and landed in another white room. There was nothing in the room but a single large pod that looked like a budding flower. When he touched it, it bloomed, revealing a boy in suspended animation. The boy looked a little younger than Roxas. His brown hair was spiked up from the back with the front of it swept to one side of his face. This was Sora. For the first time for as long he could remember, he suddenly felt a sense of completeness. He smiled. “You’re lucky,” Roxas said to the sleeping Sora. “When you wake up, it’ll be your first day of many. As for me, I guess my summer… is over.”

“Well done, Roxas!” Axel called out sarcastically from behind with a slow, resounding clap. “Talk about killing two birds with one stone, am I right? You got out of the simulation _and_ found Sora. That shaved off a few weeks of work for me.”

“Axel!” Roxas gasped, spinning around to face him. “Where did you come from?”

“I followed you! I figured for once I ought to just stay quiet and watch what you were going to do. Never saw _that_ part of Twilight Town before. I guess Diz created that.”

“And the rest? Was that you?”

Axel offered a wide grin that seemed more menacing than anything else. “Pretty smart, right? I couldn’t hide you in any _real_ world and risk the Organization finding you, so I made one up! I gave you a good life, didn’t I?”

“How can you say that? It wasn’t even mine!”

Axel’s Cheshire-like grin turned into an ugly snarl. “You little ingrate!” he growled. “I’m so _tired_ of constantly covering for you. Well, don’t worry – what I’m about to do will be my last good deed for you anyway.”

“What do you mean? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kill Sora!” With that, Axel produced his fiery chakrams and spun them around like they were batons. He threw one his chakrams at Sora, but it was immediately intercepted by another Keyblade. It was Riku. “Oh, good, the cavalry is here!” Axel cackled.

“You remember what I said to you about trying to harm Sora?” Riku asked, pointing his Keyblade at Axel.

“Bring it!” he bellowed. Axel was suddenly surrounded by fire. Riku positioned himself on the defense. With every flame Axel threw, Riku was able to deflect. Axel came at Riku like lightening, but Riku removed his blindfolds and summoned dark forces that pushed Axel away, sending him careening to the other side of the room and crashing against a wall.

As Axel got up, Roxas ran to him. “Axel, wait!” he cried. “Do you really want to kill Sora when Xion is in there? She’s not a Nobody. She’s Sora’s memories. If he dies, her memories die with him.”

“Xion?” The fire in Axel’s eyes quickly died down and an expression of sadness came over his face. He could not bear to look at Roxas. “So… you remember?”

“I do,” Roxas assured him. “I remembered the moment I saw Sora. I remember that you and I were friends. We _are_ friends. I know what you’re trying to do, but you don’t have to save me anymore. I’ve made my decision. I belong with Sora. Can’t you respect that?”

Axel slumped down on the floor. Out of all the times he had ever faced defeat, this was the roughest. For once, he did not know what to say. Roxas took Axel’s silence as a begrudging concession.

Roxas rushed over to Riku, who had been standing next to Sora the entire time with his blindfolds back in place. “How do I wake him up?” Roxas asked him.

“With your Keyblade,” Riku replied. “Just hold it up and point it at him.”

Roxas raised up the Keyblade and pointed it directly at Sora’s chest. The Keyblade activated and a beam shot forth and went straight to Sora’s heart. As this was happening, Roxas noticed that he was slowly fading away. When Axel saw this, he ran up to the pod. “Roxas, wait!” he cried.

Roxas turned to him and smiled. “Good-bye, Axel. May we meet again. Maybe in the next life.”

“Right,” Axel managed. “At least _you_ have one.” 

Roxas continued to wave at Axel until he disappeared completely. At that moment, Sora opened his eyes and looked at his friend for the first time in a year. “Riku?” Sora said.

“Sora!” Riku cried.

As Sora stumbled out of the pod, Riku reached out to catch him. Sora fell into Riku’s arms. “Riku, why do you have blindfolds on?” Sora asked while steadying himself with Riku’s assistance.

“Long story,” Riku replied.

Before they could get better reacquainted, Sora suddenly became aware of Axel’s presence, who had been looming there like a shadow all the while. “Axel? What are you doing here?”

Axel offered a tight, uncomfortable grin. “This is a heartwarming reunion and all, but I better get going.” He opened up a dark portal and stepped into it.

“I’m sorry, Axel, about your friend,” Riku said in an offer of condolence. “But thanks for understanding.”

“Yeah… whatever,” Axel muttered as he disappeared into the portal.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my favorite line from Axel in KHII is "You really DO remember me this time! I'm so FLATTERED! But you're too late!" It shows Axel being such a hothead but you can understand the depth of his emotions as he was both hurt and offended that his best friend did not remember him. I wonder, was there pain behind that smile just before he fought Roxas? It's too bad I could not use those lines in here! However, I'm glad that I was able to give Axel a very good motivation for not killing Sora while also letting him know that Roxas remembers him and that Axel and Roxas got their emotional good-byes here.


	34. Sora and Riku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catching up with Sora's original adventure.

Sora had been put to sleep for a year after he lost all of his memories during his time at Castle Oblivion. It had marked the end of a two year journey. Sora and Riku remembered when it all first started. Riku, in a desire to escape their childhood home of Destiny Islands, had opened his heart to Darkness, which approached them in the form of a tidal wave and swept Riku, Sora, and their other friend Kairi far away and in worlds unknown to them until that moment. The traumatic event left Kairi catatonic and made Riku angry. He directed that anger towards Sora, who he saw as someone who was going from one adventure to another, forgetting about Kairi, and to a larger extent, Riku. Sora, in truth, had encountered Diz who taught Sora how to harness the Power of Light with the use of the Keyblade, while Riku was mentored by an equally powerful man who continued to encourage Riku to give way to the Darkness. Riku did not realize until it was too late that Sora had been searching for him and Kairi all along, where Sora finally caught up with them in the Castle of Hollow Bastion. There, Riku told Sora that Kairi’s heart had been in Sora the entire time, which caused Sora to plunge the Keyblade into himself to release her heart. In doing so, however, Sora died and produced a Nobody, which eventually became Roxas. Kairi, in turn, saved Sora with the strength of her own heart. Together, they then searched for Riku, who at that point had run off after seeing Sora kill himself. They came to a door that was the portal between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness. Riku was on the other side of the door, trying to pull it towards him. He promised Sora that if Sora locked the door, he was going to find another way out of the Realm of Darkness.

Now that Sora’s memories had been made whole, Diz and Riku anxiously tested his memories and abilities as the Keyblade Master. Riku asked Diz if he should ever tell Sora about Xion and Roxas. Diz shook his head. “Not right now,” he replied. “I don’t want Sora to get caught up on unnecessary guilt trips, especially over such matters that were beyond his control. So much time has passed, and it allowed The Organization to further advance their agenda.”

“I had been doing my best to keep the Organization at bay,” Riku replied.

“So you have,” Diz commended warmly. “But we need Sora’s assistance more than ever.”

xXx

Sora and Riku visited Kairi at their home in Destiny Islands as a last get-together before they went off on their mission. “I haven’t seen Sora in a year, and already you’re taking him away from me?” Kairi teased.

Sora put his hands behind his back in that boyish way to play coy. “Don’t worry Kairi, I doubt something like _that_ would ever happen again,” he said, offering her a cheesy grin.

They all laughed. It was amazing to Kairi that despite everything Sora had been through, he had been able to maintain a goofy disposition, which often helped break the ice when situations became tense. Riku, on the other hand, had been more withdrawn and serious. It was, in Kairi’s eyes, a sad change to see from a boisterous, cocky youth. Although Riku and Sora were friends, they often saw themselves as competitors, and no one was more competitive than Riku. Kairi suspected that Riku blames himself for what happened to them. There were many times that Kairi wanted to break down and tell Riku that it was not his fault, that there is no resentment between them, and that they loved him; but Riku was his worst enemy, and if Kairi were to blurt out such sentiments, Riku would only punish himself all the more.

“Sora, Riku,” Kairi stated, “you have to promise me, above all else, that you will return.”

“We will,” Sora said.

“You have our word,” Riku replied.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very brief chapter, with its only purpose just essentially properly introducing Sora and Riku. I HATE the fact that I really did not know what to do with Kairi, but this is the only chapter she shows up in.


	35. Crime and Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel faces repercussions and Xemnas' wrath. Saix takes a risk.

Meanwhile, at the Organization, Axel had been apprehended for treason. Following Sora’s awakening, he had returned to headquarters, unaware that Xemnas had been made privy to Axel’s recent activities, thanks to Xigbar’s reconnaissance missions. Axel stood before the circle in the meeting chambers to hear the judgements made against him. Present was Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saix.

“It is to my understanding, Axel, that you have been spending an excessive amount of time at Castle Oblivion, is that not so?” inquired Xemnas. He was looking down at Axel from a very high thrown. Axel never felt so small.

“It was authorized!” Axel insisted.

“Saix, what do you have to say about this matter?” Xemnas asked.

“My liege, Axel had informed me of the necessary amount of time to spend at Castle Oblivion on account of the fact that he had seen a spike in heartless activities,” Saix replied coolly. “That was all he told me to approve its authorization.”

“Well, Axel? Did you knowingly deceive a superior by reporting false intentions for authorization?”

Axel groaned and said nothing, opting instead to stare frustratingly at the ground.

“Axel!” Xemnas shouted. “I repeat: Did you report false intentions for authorization?”

“Well… there _was_ a spike in heartless activities,” he replied lamely.

“But you used that authorization to harbor a rogue member, did you not?”

Axel did not respond.

“And then you allowed that rogue member to go free and awaken the Keyblade Master?!”

Axel remained quiet.

“Axel, Organization Member Number 8, your refusal to defend yourself is sufficient demonstration that you are guilty of treason. Despite your initial contributions to the Organization, you have now proven yourself to be a danger to our establishment. You will be stripped of your title as Organization Member, and you are sentenced to be imprisoned in the Chamber of Nothingness until the time I approve your death sentence!”

“What?!” Axel cried. Before Axel was able to do anything else, Xemnas summoned a dark force that rushed over to Axel and pushed him through a dark portal.

Saix did his best to hide his shock at the sentence. The Chamber of Nothingness was the worst punishment that can be sentenced on a convicted traitor, as it meant that the prisoner would undergo torture until all wanted information is squeezed out of him, and then when he is finally considered useless, he will be put to death.

xXx

In a single cell in the Chamber of Nothingness, Axel wore an iron collar that came with a chain that attached to the floor. “I’ve _got_ to stop thinking about others before myself for a change,” Axel thought dryly as he sat there miserably. “All I do is get myself into deeper trouble every time.” He opened his hands to see if he can summon his chakrams or even fire. No, he did not think so. A Nobody’s powers are typically deactivated in the Chamber of Nothingness. Still, it was worth a shot. Axel pulled at the chain, hoping that he could at least break it off from the wall, but it was securely fastened and immovable.

He heard the chamber’s door open and glanced up. “Oh, it’s you,” Axel said flatly when he saw his visitor. “Come to gloat?”

“You didn’t rat me out?” Saix asked earnestly.

Axel rolled his eyes at him. “I don’t rat people out. That’s not exactly my style.”

“Yeah,” Saix said dejectedly. “Well… is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah. Maybe you can start by asking Xemnas for a longer chain. I’d like to stand up every once in a while and not be tethered to the floor; that is, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Saix tried to reassure Axel. “Look, I’ll think of a way to get you out.”

“You mean to double-cross Xemnas? You know, for someone who likes to harp on loyalty, you sure flip flop a lot. I’m starting to think you don’t even know what the word ‘loyalty’ means.”

“Ugh, shut up! I wouldn’t be able to help you if I were sharing a cell with you, now would I? Just give me some time. Meanwhile, here.” Saix put his hand through the bars, holding a stick of sea salt ice-cream. “This ought to hold you over.”

Axel’s eyes lit up. “Hey, thanks!” he said.

“I got to go,” Saix said and hurriedly made off.

“Yeah, okay,” Axel called after him. “I’ll be here!”

xXx


	36. Supernova

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saix teams up with Sora and Riku. Axel makes a sacrifice.

The night before their departure, Riku and Sora were sitting at the beach. “Do you think this will ever end? I mean, all this fighting between Light and Darkness?” Riku asked. 

“I hope so,” Sora replied. “But we can’t ever stop fighting until then.”

“Yeah,” Riku sighed. “I guess you’re right.” He reached out and touched his blindfolds. There was a time when he and Sora would sit on the shore and watch the waters on a regular basis. After giving himself over to the Darkness in search for an adventure, he lost the ability to see without becoming overwhelmed by Darkness. His other senses became keenly developed over time, but it was not the same when he could not share the experiences with his friends.

Suddenly, a dark portal emerged in front of them, and to their shock, Saix stepped out! He was able to find their island based on Axel’s descriptions and process of elimination. Sora and Riku immediately positioned themselves to fight, Keyblades in hand.

“Speak fast, Saix,” Riku warned.

Saix smirked as if such attacks were beneath him. “Look, as much as I would love to fight you on any given day, I’m actually here on a more personal matter and wanted to ask you a favor.”

“A favor?” Sora asked incredulously. “What makes you think you can ask any favors from us?”

“Okay, let me put it in another way: you consider Axel a friend, right?”

Riku and Sora hesitated.

“Well, he didn’t kill you, right? He let you go! I mean, that’s a start of something!”

“Okay, Saix, what are you asking of us?” Riku finally relented while remaining cautious.

“Axel is now imprisoned in the Chamber of Nothingness thanks to his acts of stupidity involving you. It is a death sentence once Xemnas extorts from him what he wants to know. I am afraid he thinks Axel is a double agent and may know more than he actually does. It would be a long and torturous way to die if he were to remain there.”

“So, what’s in it for you?” Sora asked.

Saix’s expression softened. “Axel was once my friend. I’m not saying we are now, but that does not mean I want him to suffer either.”

“Well, what do you think?” Sora turned to Riku.

“I say… we should save him. We may not be allies, but we can’t turn our backs on someone in need.” Riku returned to Saix. “I am warning you, though: if I so much as suspect that you intend to double-cross us, you will regret it.”

“It might not be worth much to you, but you have my word,” Saix promised.

Riku and Sora nodded. “Okay,” said Sora. “What do we need to do?”

“The Chamber of Nothingness is located inside the depths of Castle Oblivion. I can get you in, but you will need to dress as one of us. Once inside the chamber, the powers of Darkness do not work, but the powers of Light do. That’s where you come in. I need you to use the Keyblade to open up Axel’s cell door.”

Sora suddenly hesitated at the mention of Castle Oblivion. Seeing his reaction, Saix reassured him, “You will go in and out of there. You pose a greater risk to me by staying too long.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t,” replied Riku.

xXx

Saix returned to Axel’s cell with Riku and Sora. Upon seeing them, Axel scowled. “That’s your plan?” he scoffed at Saix. He turned to Riku and Sora and laughed nervously. “Hey, guys. Long time no see! Sorry for trying to kill you all those times!”

“That’s okay,” Sora said. “I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t suck at it so much.”

“Gee, thanks,” Axel muttered.

“Guys, this is no time for witty quips,” Saix reminded them. “Sora, hurry! Open the gate!”

Sora nodded, and raising the Keyblade, caused the gate to open. Axel was amazed that it actually worked. “The chain too! Cut the chain!” Sora complied, swinging the Keyblade against the chain and causing it to break instantly. “Okay, now the iron collar –”

“There isn’t time!” Saix exclaimed. “We need to get out of here, now!”

The four of them ran out of the chamber. As they made their way past the main hall, suddenly they felt a rumbling. Alarmed, they looked around to find the source. To their horror, hundreds of little silver things started to emerge from the ground and surrounded them.

“What are they?” Sora cried.

“Dusks,” Saix sighed. “They are nobodies but without a human essence. Typically we can control them, but they seem to be turning against us.”

Axel groaned. “Oh, you don’t think _I_ caused that, do you?” he asked.

With their backs pressed against each other for protection, they slashed through the wave of dusks. Axel was vigorously shaking his hands trying to produce his chakrams. “Come on! Come on!” he muttered. He was afraid that the length of time in the Chamber of Nothingness caused his powers to diminish. A dusk was slowing approaching him. He continued to shake his hands until, to his joyous relief, he saw fire coming out of it. He gleefully shot out the fire and watched as the dusks incinerated before him.

Despite killing many of them, it seemed like there were now more dusks than ever. “We’re not getting anywhere with this!” Riku cried in frustration as the dusks started to overwhelm them.

“Guys, I think I know what to do,” Axel said.

“What do we do?” Sora asked.

“Well, _you_ need to make a run for it.”

“But what about you?”

“Don’t worry about that. Just run, ‘cause this is going to hurt.”

Sora tugged at Riku’s sleeve in a signal for him to run. Riku nodded knowingly and shoved Saix, who turned around, looking confused. The three of them took off running as they trampled and slashed at the dusks. This produced little effect, as the dusks kept multiplying; before long, they found themselves covered in them. From a short distance, they were able to see Axel standing in place, and beneath his feet, clouds were billowing. He had his hands crossed over his chest as fire circled around him. The fire got bigger and bigger until Axel stretched out his arms, causing a huge, fiery explosion. The blast was so great, that it caused an instant knock back, as Sora, Riku, and Saix flew to the other end of the hall. Every single dusk had been incinerated. The hall, which at one time had been a pristine white, was now completely black with soot. In the middle of the room, they saw Axel lying on his back with his arms still outstretched.

“Axel, that was amazing!” Sora exclaimed. “I didn’t know you could do that!” Sora ran to him eagerly, but that excitement quickly turned into consternation when he saw that Axel was slowly fading away. “Axel, what’s happening?”

“Well, I’m dying, as you can see,” Axel flatly explained.

“But why?”

Axel coughed out soot. “How do I put this? I’m like a fire that can continue to burn as long as you give it energy. But an explosion requires the fire to use all the energy it has, and then it extinguishes as there’s nothing left to keep it going. So you see, my strongest power is also the death of me. I wouldn’t use it unless there’s something worth dying for.”

“Axel…,” Sora said sadly.

Axel looked at him from the corner of his eyes. “You know, you remind me of Roxas like that. I know that sounds silly since he came from you. If you’re able to reach him somehow… tell him I said hello.” With those words, Axel disappeared and all that was left of him was ashes.

Riku ran over to Sora and grabbed him. “Sora, we have to go – now!” Still disconcerted from what happened, Sora did not appear to hear Riku, so Riku pulled him up and yanked him away from the ashes, and together Sora and Riku ran from the castle.

Saix remained standing from where he was thrown, stunned by what he had witnessed. “Good-bye, friend,” he said sadly.

xXx


	37. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel finds himself with a new identity.

In the midst of freefalling darkness, nothing can be found. Nothing is seen, heard, or felt. It makes one question one’s very own existence. One cannot tell between wakefulness and slumber. That’s how one feels when one is in darkness. So upon entering light, it felt like a giant crash. He opened his eyes and felt himself lying on the floor. It was a rather uncomfortable position, and when he got up he felt like his neck was stiff and hurting.

“Wait, what just happened?”

Fire. Explosion. Iron. Compulsively he brought his hands to his neck. There was no iron collar. He stumbled around until he came across a mirror. He was Axel, all right. But somehow he looked… different. He leaned forward to inspect his face more closely. He realized that the upside down triangles under each eye were gone. He thought about it. It’s not possible. “Am I… human?” he asked himself in disbelief. He lifted his hands and tried to summon fire. Nothing, not even a spark. He’s powerless. That’s human alright.

Lea. His name was Lea. He remembered that much, but nothing else beyond that. This was too confusing for him. He always knew, or rather assumed, that a Nobody was produced from someone who died. That would mean he, Lea, had died. So how was it that when he died as a Nobody, he reverted back to Lea? On top of that, as Axel, he had almost no memories of Lea, but now as Lea, he retained all of his memories from being Axel. 

He was so consumed by these thoughts, that it took a while before he noticed his surroundings and decided to investigate where he was. The room itself was not immediately familiar to him. It appeared round, like a rotunda. There was a ponderous desk in the middle of the room and a heavy armchair. The place reminded him of a professor’s office, although he wondered how he got that reference. It looked as though it had been ransacked or some natural disaster had befallen it, as there were papers scattered everywhere. A diagram was posted behind the desk with smudged chalk drawings. He tried to read what it said: “Door to… Darkness?” What was that about?

Finally his eyes rested on a large portrait hanging on the wall. He recognized the face. It was Xemnas only in fleshier skin tones. A sudden surge of anger overcame him. At this point in time, he certainly hated Xemnas, but for some reason he hated his human counterpart too. Were those Lea’s feelings?

Sensing that he was on the verge of discovery, he looked around the desk, opened the drawers – tried to find anything and everything that he could read in hopes, perchance, that he would find out more about his identity. Some of the writings seemed to be about nonsense, but a few times he kept running across the words “Patient X.” He slowed down every time he came across Patient X. It talked about how Patient X was without thirst or hunger. Patient X can sleep for days at a time. It required little stimulation. It was the perfect vessel for– To his frustration, the rest of the sentenced looked smeared and unintelligible. He flung the papers away from him. They were just garbage. He highly doubted that Patient X was a reference to himself anyway. But if not to him, then who? And what was the significance of this place that he should wake up in it?

He looked around the room to find a door. Why wasn’t there a door? He felt all over the walls until he hit a nodule and decided to press it. As he expected, the nodule caused a portion of the wall to slide open. Right when he was about to walk out, he was suddenly accosted by two guards. “Halt!” one of them shouted, holding up a spear to his face. “That room is for authorized personnel only!”

“Authorized for what? To prevent people from seeing a mess? Because, for the record, I found it that way.”

“How did you get in the Rotunda?”

“I don’t know. I woke up in there!”

“Well, we’ll see about that! Come on, you!” The guards goaded him out, and together they walked down a long corridor of what he later found out was a castle. They stopped midway before two large double doors that led to a room the guards referred to as The Audience Chamber. This was, apparently, where the king held his receptions. The Audience Chamber looked like another long hall with large pillars on either side going all the way down until at the very end of it sat the king on his thrown. The king was an older gentleman, perhaps somewhere in his 50s, of a broad stature and large white beard as thick as his neck. His crown was nestled atop a full head of white hair that flowed past the nape of his neck and ended in curls. He had a very severe look about him with a heavy voice to match.

“You say we have an interloper?” the king asked the guards.

“Yes, your highness. We found him trying to sneak out of the Rotunda and then refused to tell us what he was doing there in the first place.”

“I see.” The king’s eyes finally rested on their unwanted guest. “And what say you, young man?”

“Well, I told them that I woke up there, but they didn’t believe me.”

“By what name do you call yourself?”

He paused. “My name is… Lea.”

The king’s eyebrows arched in an air of intrigue and what Lea thought was a hint of a smile. His attention shifted back to the guards. “You are dismissed, but leave our new friend here.”

Lea could tell that the guards were put off but tried to hide their displeasure behind stoic expressions. Perhaps they were hoping for praise for their vigilant efforts. They did a quick bow to the king before twirling around and heading back out. The king got up and slowly approached Lea. “Don’t be afraid; I mean you no harm,” the king reassured Lea when he noticed him backing up. “To be honest with you, I believe you. I can tell by that bewildered expression that you do not know where you are. You look lost, like a deer caught in the headlights. How unlike you.”

Lea gave him a puzzled look. “How would you know?” he asked.

“Why, we’ve met before.”

“When?”

“Lea, look closely: Don’t I look familiar to you? Do you see it in my eyes, hear it in my voice?”

Lea searched carefully for anything that could trigger a memory. “I’m afraid I don’t,” he finally confessed.

“I suppose that should be reassuring; but let me give you a hint.” He took off his crown and replaced it with a mask.

Lea was feeling increasingly nervous. “Diz?” he said uncertainly.

“As _you_ have known me, Axel! Yes, you and your organization knew me as Diz. But my real name is Ansem.”

The mention of his name immediately triggered a memory. Ansem was the name of his professor! Lea started. “How are you Ansem? I saw a portrait of him in the Rotunda. He looks nothing like you! Xemnas is his Nobody!”

“Yes, your leader was your professor in your previous life, but I must tell you that he was also a fraud. The one who called himself Ansem was actually my treacherous apprentice Xehanort! He merely assumed my identity just to steal my research on the Realm of Darkness.”

“You act like I’m still a part of the Organization. In case you haven’t heard the latest news, I was exiled from there.”

“Yes, so I’ve heard, which is why I’m telling you everything now. Do you remember anything about your former life as Lea?”

“No, not really.”

“Yet you have kept all of your memories as Axel now that you have reverted back to human?”

“Yeah. What do you think that’s about?”

“There is a lot to explain, but I’ll keep it brief. You did not die exactly. You and others transformed into Nobodies thanks to a disastrous event when Xehanort attempted to harness the Power of Darkness. When you became Nobodies, you lost your heart and therefore your memories. As Axel, you started to develop what resembled a heart, thanks to your friends. Because you did not truly exist in the first place when you were a Nobody, after you ‘died’ in that state, you reverted back to human form with your new heart.”

“Sounds... kind of confusing, but okay. So all a Nobody has to do is just die and they become human again?”

“Not quite, I’m afraid. If a Nobody does not possess any human quality when it is terminated, it has nothing to use to revert back to its human form.”

“I guess Xemnas had it wrong all along then. We don’t need Kingdom Hearts to become human; we just need to act it.”

“Is that what Xemnas told you? My boy, how he has misled you!”

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Lea becomes recompleted because he developed a semblance of a human heart. Yes, I know we learned in DDD that all Nobodies become recompleted when they die, but I never understood that, as it essentially meant that there are no real stakes in their death (although I am sure that they did not know that in KHII and 358/2 Days). I wanted Axel to earn his humanhood, and I feel like he did that.


	38. A New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea reunites with Sora and Riku to accomplish a new mission.

Ansem took Lea on a tour around town as he told him his story. He explained that a long time ago, he used to be a professor here, with Xehanort studying under him. Ansem was trying to learn everything that he could about the Realm of Darkness, after seeing mysterious dark portals appearing one day. Xehanort wanted to experiment with the Darkness on themselves to harness its powers, but Ansem refused, declaring it unethical and dangerous. Xehanort then threatened to kill him, causing Ansem to flee for his life. With Ansem gone, Xehanort then pretended to be him so that he could retain all the privileges of professorship, take over his work, and continue his experiments. Eventually, as the Darkness grew, it consumed the entire town, being overrun with heartless, bringing havoc, destroying all plant life, and leaving most buildings in shambles. What was left of the town was called Hollow Bastion, but after Sora had closed the dark portal, it reverted back to the original name of Radiant Garden. Ansem returned in hopes of rebuilding the town to what it once was and became king as a result. Meanwhile, he only operated by the nickname of Diz whenever he was working against the Organization to keep Xemnas unaware about his whereabouts while Ansem used whatever knowledge he had about the Darkness against him.

The town did, in fact, look like an endless maze of immaculate gardens surrounded by tall, white buildings. The name itself triggered what Lea thought was a childhood memory of playing in the gardens. He and Isa were always running around with… he couldn’t quite remember. Every time he seemed to have a mental image in place, it always flickered away like photos scattering in the wind. Ansem noticed Lea’s inward struggle as his eyes furrowed in frustration. He assumed a cheerier disposition to lighten Lea up. “Don’t try too hard, boy,” he said, clapping Lea on the back, “or you may lose what you find. It will all come naturally to you if you just let it be. The heart remembers even when the mind cannot.”

“I think… I used to live here when I was a kid. Wouldn’t someone recognize me by now?”

“Perhaps,” Ansem pondered as he stroked his beard. “But I highly doubt it. When Radiant Garden became Hollow Bastion, everyone fled. After it returned to Radiant Garden, it was slowly repopulated with displaced people.”

“Displaced,” Lea echoed despondently. “That’s a perfect word to describe me.”

Ansem was taken aback. “You are far too down in the dumps! This is much more serious than I thought. Well, look: I’ll take care of your provisions for now, hmm? I can set you up with excellent living quarters not too far from the castle. And I think it would help if you see some familiar, friendly faces? Suppose I have Riku and Sora come here?”

“Well, familiar is right, but friendly is an overstatement,” Lea commented wryly.

“Ha!” Ansem chortled. “Have it your way, then. All the same, you should meet, as you would prove vital to our mission.”

Bemused, it was Lea’s turn to be taken aback. “How? I don’t have powers anymore.”

“You don’t need it. You have inside knowledge of the Organization. You’re familiar with the layout of Castle Oblivion. You’re guidance will help us fight against the Darkness. Lea, will you help us? Will you help us take down the very organization you used to work for?”

Lea mulled over it. If they thought he was a traitor before, what Ansem was suggesting was taking it to the next level. Organization XIII. The very organization that gave him a purpose but at the same time robbed him of his life. The Organization of Nobodies above nobodies whose goal was to capture Kingdom Hearts. He was Organization Member Number 8, Assassin. His job was to annihilate all traitors. The irony was too rich. “Where do I sign up?” he grinned.

xXx

Ansem asked Riku and Sora to meet him at the Rotunda in the Castle of Radiant Garden. They rushed there right away when he advised them that it was a matter of urgency. Imagine their elation when they discovered Axel standing there right next to Ansem! An air of excitement filled the room, and for a brief moment, it felt more like a reunion than a matter of business.

“You traded your black coat for a black hoodie?” Sora laughed. “How radical of you!”

“What can I say?” Lea countered. “Black is my color.”

“I thought it was red!”

“Just for the hair!”

Since Riku and Sora had only known Lea as Axel, it was difficult for them to transition from the two names. They tried to refer to him as Lea a few times, but they kept slipping into calling him Axel. “Fine, it’s Axel!” Lea said, throwing his hands up in a sign of surrender. “It’s not like I know who Lea was anyway. My only memories are those of Axel.”

“But who do you want to be?” Ansem asked.

“I want to be myself!”

“So how would the world see you as yourself?”

Lea shrugged. Putting on airs was never a thing he liked to do, but he could not put into words what it meant to be himself.

After they were finished getting reacquainted, Lea showed them the papers he had found, about Patient X, and Ansem’s – or rather Xehanort’s – designs on the wall. Lea speculated that waking up in this very room was not incidental, but rather the last place he was as a human before he became a Nobody. Ansem listened very intently. “So this room carries a special significance for you,” he posited cautiously. “But what of Patient X? Could that be a contingency plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well the way it was described – like it was barely alive, and yet it was. So it could be, like, an emergency body, if you will, if something were to go wrong with the experiment. The perfect vessel if one were to lose their body?”

“Like a puppet!” Lea gasped.

“A what?”

“That’s what Saix called a vessel in the Replica Program.”

“The Organization has a replica program?”

“It’s located in Castle Oblivion.”

“Very well. Can you draw us a map for how to get there?”

“Why? I can just show you.”

“You’re not going.”

“What?” Lea scowled. Suddenly he did not like his role in this new task force. He never envisioned that he would just sit around while everyone else was part of the action.

“Axel is dead, remember? Let them keep thinking that. Their ignorance will be our strength. Besides, you’d be like a sitting duck without powers.”

Lea reluctantly conceded his point. He did not liked it, but he knew Ansem was right. Still, there were problems with their plan. Accessing the chamber that contains the Replica Program required the power of Darkness, as the only way they can get in was through a dark portal.

“Allow me.” Riku stepped forward and took off his blindfold. Almost immediately, Riku’s body transformed, where it was as black as the heartless. The skin itself looked so rough, that it was almost like scales. His eyes glowed liked flames. The only thing that remained unchanged was his face and hair. He created a dark portal, stepped in, and then stepped out. This was Dark Riku. He immediately put his blindfolds back on and reverted back to his original form. He explained that if he remained as Dark Riku for too long, his heart would be overcome with Darkness, and he risked forgetting who he was. He almost did when he fought Sora at Hollow Bastion.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am glad that Axel parted with Riku and Sora in good terms, because it felt very natural and organic to have him engage with them in friendly interactions.


	39. Going Back, Revisited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea remembers the first time he met Roxas and struggles with human feelings. He and Sora share a moment.

That night, Lea had a dream. In it, he heard the resounding falls of his own footsteps as he sauntered down the hall in the Chamber of Repose. He found the pod where Roxas was sleeping, its door wide open the way Vexen had left it. “So this is Sora’s Nobody, huh?” Axel said aloud. He was not talking to himself so much as he was talking to Roxas, as despite his unresponsiveness, Axel liked to imagine he had an audience. “Such a shame. Like a waste. Oh well.” With that said, Axel stretched out his hands and produced his chakrams. “So long, kid.” He was hoping that he would have something much cooler to say, but this time he could not think of anything.

Just as he was about to incinerate him, Roxas opened his eyes. They were large and blue. He looked at Axel passively. The simple act startled Axel. “Huh?” He stopped in midstride and fell over due to the abrupt interruption of the momentum. When he got up, he saw Roxas unchanged and undisturbed. Axel narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized him and nudged him on the shoulder. “Hey, kid, are you okay?” When Roxas did not move, Axel picked him up and sat him on a chair. “Like a bag of rocks. Useless,” Axel muttered. Roxas slumped on the chair, his head partially bowed. He continued to stare, only now it was towards the floor. Axel knelt down to meet him eye-level and waved his hand across Roxas’ face. “Hellooo,” Axel called out.

At last giving up, Axel sat against the wall opposite of Roxas. For the first time, he hesitated in killing anything. Not even Vexen’s wretched pleas for his life moved Axel to sympathy when he obliterated him.

After hanging around for several hours, Saix suddenly emerged. “Axel, what’s taking so long?” he asked in a tone that Axel thought was gruffer than the situation warranted. “How hard is it to destroy a dead thing?”

“Give me a break,” Axel replied. “The kid is not dead. He’s awake.”

“That doesn’t look awake!” Saix pointed irritatingly at the somnolent boy.

“Well, he opened his eyes.”

“So?”

“So you told me to destroy him because he’s deceased. Well he woke up.”

“But he’s still no good! He’s just wasting space at this point. He can’t even move or communicate!”

“If it took this long for him to wake up, maybe it’ll take as long for him to come around.”

“Why are you trying so hard to defend him? What’s it to you?”

Axel sighed in frustration and got up. He could not believe how dense Saix was. “Look, don’t you want to have another Sora as part of our organization? Only instead of him fighting against us, we will have him fight alongside us. That, I think, is a worthy investment, even if he does not look like much now.”

Saix fumed in silence but eventually conceded. Still, just to make sure that he came on top, he told Axel that he had three days, and then if things remain unchanged, to destroy him at once.

Axel bowed to him in feigned deference. “Whatever you say… boss.” Axel saw Saix stiffen before leaving through the dark portal, clearly annoyed. Axel just smirked.

The three days dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. Axel tried to entertain himself with his chakrams by first juggling them in the air, but their shape and size proved too unwieldy, and they just crashed ungracefully. Then he spun them around like wheels in his hands, but at some point he lost grip of them and they hit him in the face. Now no longer in the mood to do anything, he just sat there and stared out in space, not so unlike his new friend there. While Axel was about to doze off, he suddenly heard a voice. “Where?”

Axel startled himself up. The voice was not loud, but it might as well have been ear-shattering given the dead silence that had preceded it. “Where am I?”

Axel got up and approached him. This time, Roxas lifted his head to look straight up at him. “Are you okay?” Axel asked.

“I’m not sure. What happened?” Roxas seemed dazed and confused.

Axel quickly brought Roxas up to speed about where they were. As soon as Roxas felt stable, they went to the Organization Headquarters, where Axel introduced Roxas to Xemnas, the leader of the Organization. Xemnas was a little uncertain at first but then seemed confident about Roxas’ eventual usefulness to them. He was given the name Roxas as it was the anagram of Sora, but with an X in it to emphasize his nature as a Nobody.

Roxas. Just like Axel was an anagram of Lea.

xXx

Lea woke up and was surprised to find that his pillow was wet. He wiped his face and discovered that he had been crying, much to his revulsion. It really did not seem becoming of him. He did not like this new human form of him if all his emotions were going to be magnified ten times what they used to be. They were incredibly painful, but not in a physical way. As he ruminated over the memory that played out into a vivid dream, he realized that was the moment when he first developed emotions, and by extension, a conscience. He wondered, though, why it had to be Roxas that brought him to that point. He knew that Roxas was Sora’s Nobody, and he did not even like Sora when they first met. It seemed incredulous to him that out of all the people who could have been the Keyblade Master, it had to be a kid who looked like he was still in middle school; Sora even acted that way too so that no one could forget it. But Roxas was very different from Sora.

When Lea got out of his room and stumbled into the kitchen, he saw that Sora was awake as well, preparing something to eat. Lea stalled. He was not sure if he wanted to talk to Sora. Before he could make up his mind, though, Sora beat him to it: “Can’t sleep?” 

“Hmmm,” Lea grudgingly replied.

“Yeah, me neither. I thought I might as well have an early breakfast.”

Lea sat down with Sora. “You know, there’s something I can’t figure out: now that I’m human, I look exactly like I did as a Nobody, but Roxas looked nothing like you.”

Sora had opened up a box of cereal, poured it, and ate as Lea was talking. When he was in between spoonfuls, he asked, “What was Roxas like?”

“I don’t know… kind of moody, I guess.”

“You mean like you?”

Lea shot him a dirty look, which Sora quickly noticed.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Sora apologized, but then could not resist with: “You’re kind of a hothead too!”

“Hey, I didn’t come here to be insulted by the likes of you!” Lea scowled.

“Okay, you’re right,” Sora finally relented. “I’m sorry. I can’t really tell you. Although I remember at one point, I had Kairi’s heart in me, and you know _she’s_ a different person from me, so…”

Lea thought about it. That was true. And Sora was not even technically dead either when Roxas was running around. In fact, it kept being proven time and again that a person did not need to die to produce a Nobody. That meant it was possible that somewhere there was a human counterpart of Roxas! When Lea suggested this, Sora tried to be as reassuring as possible. He was doubtful, but he did not want to discourage Lea. He knew what it was like to have lost a friend.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lea points out the incongruency between him and his Nobody being the same while Sora and his Nobody are different. While I take it one direction, KHIII takes it in another.


	40. Former Friends and Former Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea discovers that he has a new power and visits Saix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Graphic depiction of death is in this chapter.

Later on that morning, Riku and Sora left for the mission at Castle Oblivion. Riku’s job was to get as much information as possible about the Replica Program and destroy the machine. It all had to be done very quickly in order to minimize the chance of being caught.

Lea stayed behind at Radiant Garden. He was bored. He thought about how he used to spend his free time when he was a Nobody, which was anything between wandering around Twilight Town, sitting at the Clock Tower with Roxas and Xion when they were still there, or sleeping. He figured that if he slept, he would get depressed, and he had no one to just hang out with, so he opted to stroll around town.

Radiant Garden was not a very big town. There was the castle surrounded by its gardens, and beyond that a handful of shops and residences. As he left the castle grounds and passed the gates, he noticed that the heartless began sprouting up. “Aw, what?” he groaned. He could have sworn Ansem said that the Darkness was eradicated from Radiant Garden, and yet here they are again – why does it never end? These particular heartless creatures were small, but they were growing in number and can very easily overwhelm someone. The heartless quickly circled him so that he had no way of escaping. Instinctively, he took on a fighting stance and held out his hands. Nothing came out. Oh yeah, he had no powers. Just when he assumed all hope was lost, a Keyblade suddenly materialized into his hand. He looked at it, dumbfounded. How and why did that happen? The heartless were now swarming him. Remembering his situation, he promptly cut down all the heartless until there was none left. With nothing to bother him, he studied the Keyblade again at leisure. It reminded him of his chakrams in a way because the Keyblade was lined with flame images. With a flick of his wrist, he was able to materialize the Keyblade or cause it to disappear. Nice! Now that he was weaponized once more, he decided that he was going to pay a visit to the Organization.

xXx

Saix was in his chambers when he heard someone enter in. “Who is it?” he asked irritatingly, given that whoever it was did not even bother to knock. Saix turned around and saw that his visitor had his hood on and said nothing. Uneasy, Saix stood up and repeated the question. When his visitor again said nothing and shut the door behind him, Saix produced his claymore and threatened to clobber him if he did not reveal his name.

“Relax, it’s just me,” Lea finally blurted out as he pulled back his hood.

“Axel!” Saix gasped. A look of surprise – and perhaps a wave of relief – showed on Saix’s face. The claymore disappeared into thin air when he no longer perceived a threat. “You’re alive!”

“In the flesh!” Lea beamed.

“But how?”

“What do you think? I’m human now.”

Saix appeared intrigued, although not quite pleased. “You shouldn’t have come here,” he said sternly. “You have put yourself in danger.”

“Aren’t you even listening? I just told you that I became human, and without completing Kingdom Hearts! Xemnas probably already knew we didn’t need it! That must mean that he has some other plans for it that would only benefit himself.”

“I see,” Saix stoically replied.

Lea was upset by Saix’s lack of reaction. He was hoping that he would see more indignation or a sense of betrayal, and that Saix would come to the conclusion that he also needed to leave the Organization. Then Lea suddenly was reminded about the myriad of deceptions perpetuated by the Organization. It occurred to him that even their ultimate mission could have been a lie. “You already knew that… didn’t you?” he sighed.

“Perhaps,” Saix replied casually. “It was never really my goal to be human.”

“But why? When you’re a Nobody, you don’t really experience anything.”

Saix grinned contemptuously. He studied Lea’s face for a long time. “Those markings from under your eyes – they’re gone. I used to fancy them as upside down teardrops, you know. It’s like they kept you from crying.”

Lea stiffened and impulsively raised a hand to his cheek where the marking used to be. He suddenly felt very self-conscious. “How did he know that I’ve been crying?” he thought to himself. For a minute there, he was of the impression that Saix somehow knew about Lea’s dream, but then he reminded himself that was not even possible.

“Axel, do you like being a human?” Saix continued. “I mean, truly? With all the emotions, the feelings? Is that what you call living? Do you know what I call it? I call it being stupid. It defies logic, clouds reasoning. To be human is to err. I saw it in you during your last days here. You were always indecisive. You made careless mistakes. When Xemnas sent Xigbar to spy on you, you didn’t even notice. That’s not the Axel I remember. He wouldn’t let himself be caught like that. He wouldn’t show weakness!”

“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Lea scoffed. “You remembered my human name even before I did! And you _helped_ me do all the things you now think are stupid.”

“I never said I was immune!” Saix retorted. “It scared me! I was wrapped up in your mess and lost focus on the goal.”

“Which is what? What is the _real_ goal?”

“With Kingdom Hearts? Why, to harness the Power of Light, of course. Humans naturally have that power within themselves, but it’s buried beneath all their feelings and emotions. With Kingdom Hearts, we can take the light and discard all those less desirable traits.”

“And what are you going to do with all that power? Dominate everyone? You think Xemnas is planning to share? There can only be one tyrant.”

“I’m not worried about what Xemnas wants.”

“So you really are a traitor! That’s quaint. Xemnas will double-cross you, and you will double-cross Xemnas. The real question is, who will double-cross the other first?”

“Oh, I am awfully close.”

“So you know about Patient X?”

Saix frowned. “What about Patient X?”

Lea felt like he had hit a target. “You mean, you don’t know?”

Saix scoffed. “You don’t know either.”

“But I do! Patient X is all part of Xemnas’ final plans, and when he gets a hold of it, he will be far more powerful than you. Better move fast, Saix, before he gets to it first.”

Lea was hoping that Saix would somehow let slip more information, but when he did not, Lea decided to head out. As he turned to leave, Saix quickly detained him. “You don’t think I’m going to let you get out of here like that now, do you?”

From the corner of his eye, Lea saw that Saix had produced the claymore and raised it up against him. He spun around and blocked the claymore with his Keyblade.

“Uh-ho! So you’re a Keyblade wielder now!” Saix said mockingly. “My, you really have gone up in the world!”

The two backed away from each other as they sized their opponent in preparation to attack. Saix looked particularly hateful as he dared Lea to strike him. “Come on, Axel!” he goaded. “You’re not hesitating, are you? Even as your life depends on it?” Saix charged at him, and once again Lea blocked. The two clashed with their respective weapons, constantly blocking or cancelling each other out. When Saix saw that he was going nowhere, he summoned Berserk. Saix illuminated in the moonlight, the scar on his face glowed brightly, and his eyes shined like headlights. For every strike Lea managed, Saix got in three more. He seemed to be possessed, since it was the moon that was the driving force.

Lea flipped back away from him to catch a breather, but Saix kept charging at him over and over again, until, with one single thrust, Lea was able to penetrate the Keyblade into Saix’s chest just as Saix was rushing forward. Saix’s eyes bulged out, as he gasped in utter amazement from the impact. The Keyblade not only penetrated his chest but broke through his spine, with half of the Keyblade jutting out from his back. Saix instantly collapsed and was struggling to breathe. Lea rushed over to Saix and tried to pull the Keyblade out of him, but it was firmly lodged in place. Saix seized Lea by the lapels of his coat. Lea grabbed his hand and tried to pry him off, but Saix clung on with a surprising amount of tenacity.

“Lea!” Saix gasped.

Lea paused. “Isa?” He was hoping that in the throes of death, Saix was finally finding his humanity.

“Patient X,” he sputtered, “his name is Ventus.” With one final exhale, Saix closed his eyes, his body went limp, and he slowly faded away. Lea remained there with him until his former friend and one-time enemy completely disappeared.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest with you, the reason I labeled him "Patient X" is because I forgot that the term was "Subject X." I decided to keep it as Patient X because Subject X is still an unknown character in KH lore (although we can guess who it is).


	41. Anti-Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea becomes full of self-doubt. He is led to a point of discovery.

When Lea returned to Radiant Garden, Riku and Sora had been waiting for him. “Axel, where did you go?” Riku asked in an urgent manner. 

“To the Organization,” Lea replied.

“But what for?” Sora balked. “You know they could’ve killed you!”

Stoically, Lea raised his hand and produced the Keyblade. Sora and Riku were stunned. “You?” they both gaped simultaneously.

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, guys,” Lea replied dryly.

“Well, all the same, Axel, it wasn’t right to go off on your own without telling us,” Riku said. “We have to function as a cohesive unit if we’re going to defeat the Darkness.”

“At least that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about anymore. I quit.” They were about to protest, but Lea would have none of it. He flung the Keyblade away from him. Minutes later, it disappeared and re-materialized in his hand. “Ugh!” he groaned in disgust.

“I don’t understand,” Riku said. “What happened?”

“I went to see Saix.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“No. Saix wasn’t exactly thrilled about it either. He told me the _real_ purpose of obtaining Kingdom Hearts and then tried to kill me. Needless to say, he lost. But right before he died, he had one more thing to say me. He wanted to tell me the name of Patient X. He said his name is Ventus.” With that, Lea saluted them a farewell. “I think I did my fair share. You guys can take it from here. You’re better at the hero stuff than I am.”

As Lea walked away, Sora tried to go after him, but Riku pulled Sora back. “No, Sora. If Axel does come back, it will be because he did it on his own.”

Lea made his way straight to the Rotunda. He had hoped that Isa was there much like Lea was when he came to after dying as a Nobody. To his dismay, there was no sign of him. Maybe Ansem was right: not all Nobodies can return as human beings. For a while, Lea refused to resign himself to this fact and several times a day for the next few days, he would return to the office, in search of his old friend.

xXx

Ansem happened to be in the Rotunda one day when Lea was doing his usual rounds to the office to check if Isa was there. “Lea,” Ansem bellowed. “Let’s talk for a minute.”

Reluctantly, Lea obliged and slumped on a chair across from Ansem. He was very put off that he had talk to anyone at all, particularly Ansem; but seeing as how he was, in every way, dependent on Ansem for the time being, he did not protest.

“Riku and Sora told me that you have just recently wielded the Keyblade. Is that true?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to. You can have it back.”

“I’m sorry, my son, but that is not for me or you to grant or take away. The Blade chooses whoever it finds worthy to possess it. For better or worse, it chose you.”

“But I’m no hero,” Lea replied, shaking his head. “Everything I do backfires on me. I’ve lost all my friends for it, my identity, everything.”

Ansem stroked his beard as he sympathetically considered Lea’s struggles. “Yes, it’s true, the road a hero travels is never easy. But sometimes, it’s necessary. It’s not even always planned, but thrust upon!”

“I can reject it, though, right? There’s no such thing as destiny.”

“If you say so. But remember, all of our choices and actions as a whole interlock into a web of fluid motions. We all affect one another. Still, Isa was not your responsibility. He made his decision.”

The mention of Isa made Lea look away. “I wish I can remember Isa. I don’t even have that.”

“That may be, but I think Isa left you a piece of consolation before he died.”

“What? You mean Patient X?”

“Ventus. I did some research, and I came upon his photo.” Ansem opened a drawer to pull out the picture and slid it across the desk to Lea. “I thought you’d be interested.”

Lea picked up the picture and started. “That’s Roxas!” he exclaimed.

“No, that’s Ventus. The Keyblade Master before Sora.”

Lea gazed at the photo for long a time. It occurred to him that he had never looked at Roxas in a photo before, but his memories of him were so vivid, he would have no use for one. “We used to call him Ven,” Lea finally managed. Ansem sat up, all the while studying Lea’s reaction. “We were friends. We used to practice fencing with wooden swords, and…” Seeing a decorative sword on the wall, Lea grabbed it and tossed it to Ansem while producing the Keyblade for himself. “Come at me!” he exclaimed.

“What? Ho!” Ansem exclaimed as Lea charged at him with his Keyblade. Ansem leaped back and the two jostled back and forth with their respective weapons until Lea was able to knock the sword out of Ansem’s hand, ending the battle. “Say, you’re good!” praised Ansem.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t serious,” Lea replied as he let his Keyblade disappear. He sighed. “Nothing ever was back then.”

“So what happened? Did something change?” Ansem asked.

“No… we just move on to do different studies. Isa and I studied under Ansem – I mean, Xehanort. We called him Professor Ansem.” Lea suddenly jolted as if he had woken up all over again. He jumped up from his seat and ran over to Xehanort’s portrait, yanking the picture off the wall and flinging it across the room.

“Lea!” Ansem cried. Afraid that he had lost his senses, Ansem rushed over to Lea and tried to restrain him. “What the –”

“No, look!” Lea pointed excitedly to the wall. Behind the portrait hid a chalked drawing of an elongated rectangle, which was divided into four segments. “Now I remember! This is the Door to Darkness! Isa and I were here! We had a ray gun that contained dark energy. We wanted to open a portal through there to get Ven out!”

“So where was Xehanort all this time?”

“I don’t know. We were doing this behind his back. He was the one that trapped Ven.”

“It’s no wonder you felt so connected to Roxas when you were a Nobody. He had tapped into your subconscious memories as Lea trying to save Ventus. But what about Xemnas? Do you think Xemnas has Xehanort’s memories?”

“Who knows with him! He has so many secrets that the Organization members barely trust each other.”

“If Xemnas has not accessed the Door To Darkness all this time, it must either be because he has no need for it right now, or he does not know how to access it. At any rate, we will still need to figure out how to open it as soon as possible.”

A sense of hope surged in Lea as he realized that he was given another chance to bring back Ventus, and this time, he was determined that he would not fail. He took some comfort in the idea that, in Saix’s dying breath, he made sure that Lea finished what they had both started before becoming Nobodies. Perhaps right before he passed, he suddenly remembered who he was as Isa; or perhaps he knew all along as soon as he remembered being Isa, and wanted to repent before losing that chance forever. Whatever the case may be, Lea chose to remember him as a good person.

xXx


	42. At a Crucial Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ansem decided that it was time to take Organization XIII out.

Riku and Sora were at the Radiant Garden courtyard when a dark portal emerged and out came an Organization member. “So there you guys are! Xigbar was right!” he exclaimed. The member took off his hood, revealing a boyish face and faux Mohawk. It was Demyx.

“What are you doing here?” Sora cried.

“Me? Well, with Axel gone, they want me to do the dirty work.” He lifted up his hand to materialize his sitar.

“You’re going to assassinate us with that?” Sora teased.

“Oh, I won’t, but my underlings will!” Demyx took his sitar and strum a few chords, which caused several water-type nobodies to appear. “This is for destroying the Replica Program and killing Saix! Now dance!” He pointed his sitar at Riku and Sora, which caused the water nobodies to rush at them. Sora and Riku slashed and darted their way through them. Every time Sora or Riku came near Demyx, he would just strum another chord and waves of water would appear again. Sora leapt onto the waves and surfed on them, until he was close enough to Demyx that he can strike him several times with his Keyblade. This would momentarily stun him before he would recover and strum another chord, which sent more waves to knock Sora and Riku back. Sora and Riku jumped on the waves and surfed down, striking at Demyx several more times. This process was repeated until Demyx lost all strength and fell to his knees. “Ugh! I should have never agreed to this!” he muttered. Just as Demyx was creating a portal to escape, Riku took out his Keyblade and pointed it at Demyx, which shot out a beam that lassoed him back in. “Hey!” Demyx cried in surprise.

“Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t destroy you now!” Riku bellowed.

“Don’t hurt me!” Demyx stammered. “I was just following orders! I don’t even kill people!”

“What do you know about the Replica Program?”

“Nothing! Xigbar just told me what you’ve done. And, hey, you killed one of us first!”

“That was in self-defense!”

“And so now you’re going to kill me?”

Riku considered his options. Demyx, by himself, was not that much of a threat. Even if they were to kill him, the Organization is already aware of Sora and Riku’s involvement in Radiant Garden. It seemed like it would be a needless kill. Despite Riku’s mixed feelings, he let him go. Demyx sighed in relief. “But don’t ever come here again,” Riku warned.

“If we were to ever cross paths, I’ll pretend I didn’t see you,” Demyx promised right before disappearing into the dark portal.

Riku and Sora returned to the Rotunda, where Lea and Ansem were trying to figure out how to open the dark portal to gain access to the Door To Darkness.

“Well, we got some bad news,” Riku sighed. “The Organization – they apparently discovered our headquarters. Demyx dropped by.”

“The rotten timing of it all,” groaned Ansem.

Lea busted out laughing. “Demyx? What did he do? Torture you with his sitar playing?”

“That and sent waves after us!” Sora exclaimed.

Lea, Riku, and Sora laughed so hard, tears were coming out of their eyes. As loathed as Ansem was to disrupt such levity, especially as he reminded himself that they were just boys at the end of the day, he quickly brought their attention back to the matter at hand.

“They must _really_ be low in numbers to send Demyx out,” Lea surmised. “We were already cut down in half by the time they got rid of me.”

“We’re not going to wait for Xemnas to find new recruits. At this point we’re now on borrowed time.” Ansem quickly debriefed Sora and Riku over their discovery of Ventus’ existence somewhere beyond the Door To Darkness and their fear that he is somehow involved in Xemnas’ ultimate plan. He concluded that they had no choice now but to take the Organization head on to bring down Xemnas.

“Where _is_ the Organization Headquarters?” Sora asked.

“It’s located inside The Castle That Never Was,” Lea explained.

“Where’s that?”

“Where else do you think it’d be? It’s in a place called The World That Never Was, just beyond Twilight Town.”

xXx


	43. The World That Never Was

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea, Sora, and Riku travel to the World That Never Was and take down some members.

Lea, Sora, and Riku all dressed in black coats like that of the Organization in preparation for their travels to The World That Never Was. It was a place straddling between the boundaries of the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness. When they arrived, Riku and Sora were quite mystified with how it seemed like a place of shadows. There were tall skyscrapers everywhere, with no clear view of the top. The buildings looked like static when they got really close to them.

“Don’t get too distracted by your surroundings; almost everything is an illusion here,” Lea warned.

“So what’s not?”

“That.” Lea pointed to the ground. It was a wide, black road that appeared to be trembling; then Sora and Riku quickly realized that the movement was actually coming from the heartless that were rising from the ground and crawling on top of one another as they clamored to the intrepid heroes. The three of them hacked their way through the heartless with their Keyblades as they slowly moved forward. These were little heartless creatures and were relatively easy to vanquish, but the sheer number was feeling taxing. Every time they turned a corner to another street, they were once again met by swarms of heartless.

“This is insane!” Riku exclaimed to Lea. “You can’t possibly go through this every time you come here!”

“They’re attracted to the Keyblades,” Lea explained. “And to Kingdom Hearts.” When they reached yet another corner, they came across an open court where the sky now stood visible and Kingdom Hearts was in plain view. “Every time you release a heart from a heartless, that gets bigger.”

“How big can it get? It looks like it can crash down at any minute!” Sora cried, gazing at it in awe.

“It’s really hundreds of miles away. And it’s part of Xemnas’ plans for power, if he can figure out how to harness its energy.”

All of a sudden an Organization member emerged. “Oh, he’s already figured that out!” the member interjected.

“Xigbar!” Riku cried. “Ever the eavesdropper, I see!”

“As if!” Xigbar shot back. “Let’s call it an invested concern!” Xigbar recognized Riku, but Sora and Lea hung back and had yet to identify themselves. “So you finally decided to join us, Riku, and brought some new recruits with you?”

“You wish!” Riku retorted. “We’ve come to stop you!”

“But you got it all wrong!” Xigbar insisted. “What is nobler than to bring the Powers of Light and Darkness together?”

“They cannot exist simultaneously; either Light overcomes Darkness, or Darkness consumes Light. Ultimately, one must bow to the other.”

“Well in that case, I rather choose… Dark!” Xigbar flicked his wrists and produced two Arrowgun rifles, one in each hand. Riku, Sora, and Lea all produced their Keyblades and rushed towards Xigbar. This fight proved to be more difficult for them than with previous Nobodies, as Xigbar’s weapons produced projectiles that that they had to dodge and deflect as they moved towards Xigbar. “Three against one? That’s not fair!” Xigbar whined, but only in mockery. He quickly summoned Sniper nobodies. Now they had to fight several nobodies, dodge and deflect projectiles, _and_ try to get to Xigbar all at the same time. Frustrated, Riku yanked his blindfold down and transformed into Dark Riku. He summoned a dark torrent, which blew all the nobodies and projectiles away, finally leaving Xigbar vulnerable. Sora and Lea slashed at him several times ferociously before he had a chance to produce a counterattack.

When Xigbar was at last defeated, he collapsed on the ground. “How does it feel, Riku,” mustered Xigbar, “to resort to the Power of Darkness to defeat me? Did you like it?”

Riku replaced his blindfolds. “Powers only create chaos when not meted out proportionately and as necessary. I have the discipline to do that; can you say the same?”

Xigbar grinned with the knowledge that he was well matched. “Apparently not,” he replied before closing his eye and dissolving into the shadows.

“Well,” said Lea, “one down, and uh… some more to go.”

As Lea, Riku, and Sora continued to make their way down the road, every once in a while coming across little heartless, they at last arrived to The Castle That Never Was. Lea pulled Sora and Riku aside before they proceeded. “Do you see that member over there?” he pointed out near the entrance of the castle. “I think he’s been guarding the castle since Saix’s death. That’s Lexaeus. He carries an axe sword that’s so powerful, it can kill you with one blow, so _don’t_ come in contact with it. We’re better off trying to sneak past him.”

The three of them dropped to the ground and slowly inched their way towards the entrance. Lexaeus, a rather husky fellow who needed that amount of girth to wield such as massive weapon, moved very slowly as if he were made of rock. Every time Lexaeus was facing the three’s direction, they would lie motionless for what seemed like an eternity, praying that their black coats were successfully camouflaging them in the shadows. Lexaeus’ eyes were always right above them, completely oblivious of their presence; still, it was very unnerving to find him coming just mere inches away from their heads, and for a brief, terrifying second, they thought that he was going to step on them. Instead, he turned around and began walking the other direction. The relief was so palpable among them, that they feared Lexaeus was somehow able to feel it too; but when he continued moving with his back towards them, they proceeded as cautiously as possible, shimmying forward with every step Lexaeus took to give the illusion that the sound was coming from his own feet.

Suddenly, to their inexplicable horror, Sora’s knee pressed against a branch and snapped it in half. It was the loudest break they had ever heard. Lexaeus obviously heard it too, as he quickly turned around and his eyes zeroed in on them! They got up and ran when they saw him lift up the axe sword and charged at them. When Lexaeus realized that he would not be able to overtake them easily, he struck the ground, which caused them to fly high up in the air. As they were descending, Sora produced his Keyblade and stood on it so that it was pointing downward. Sora came crashing down directly on Lexaeus, with the Keyblade crushing his skull and almost splitting him in half before he dissolved into nothingness. Lea gaped at what he saw. “Sora, you have no idea how _lucky_ that was!” he exclaimed.

“What you call luck, I call skill,” Sora beamed.

Lea rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

They were finally in the castle. It was dark and barren, a strange sight for Lea to see compared to the days of old. He was not sure if there were any members left, or if it was just Xemnas at this point. He explained to Riku and Sora that Xemnas’ quarters were at the very top floor. As they hastily made their way up the stairs, a growing sense of anxiety swelled. Xemnas was by far the most powerful member of the Organization.

When they reached the top floor, there was a purplish haze permeating the air. Xemnas had been sitting in the middle of the room, his back towards them, yet he was aware of their presence. “So you have finally come, Warriors of Light, Wielders of the Keyblade,” he uttered. When he turned around, they saw that Xemnas’ appearance was quite altered as if he was possessed by a spirit. He had taken on a more ethereal form, and his eyes were glowing bright orange. He was channeling the power of Kingdom Hearts!

xXx


	44. Xemnas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea, Sora, and Riku take on Xemnas.

For a while no one dared to speak, as they were quite stunned with what was happening, fearing that perhaps they came too late. It was Riku who managed to break the silence. “Your reign of terror is coming to an end!” Riku was trying to sound more confident, but his words fell flat and faltered.

Xemnas appeared unfazed. “Who’s going to end me? You? Has the student finally surpassed the master? I think not. No, Riku, you have only yet to understand what the Power of Darkness can do for you, otherwise you wouldn’t reject it so. What about Sora, the Keyblade Master? Lock all the doors you want, but I will be there to open them all again! And… Axel? My most treacherous underling of them all. Our plans have been dashed by you far more times than I care to count. Although you did do me a favor by killing Saix, that would-be traitor.”

“Hmmph! Well in that case, now I’m really glad I double-crossed you – twice!” Lea retorted.

“That’s because you hardly ever know whose side you’re on! You’re like a tempest that goes where the wind takes you and devastates everything in your wake. You’ll turn on Sora and Riku in a second if it benefits you. Are you proud of yourself for destroying my Replica Program? That was my bid for immortality, you know – to make copies of myself so that I may live forever. But since that’s gone, I’m going to have to go with plan B. You know him: Patient X!”

“Ventus!” Lea gasped.

Xemnas grinned. “That’s right, Axel! Kill me and you’d be killing him as well!”

“Xemnas is lying, Axel! You know that better than anybody!” Riku cried.

“All right, boys,” Xemnas announced like they were on stage, “since I am so nice, I will give you all one last chance: join me in my quest, and there will be no hard feelings. Refuse, and it will be the last thing you regret!” Sora took out his Keyblade, as it did Riku. They anxiously turned to Lea, who had been glaring at Xemnas that entire time, unmoved. Xemnas was also waiting for Lea’s response. “Well?” he asked. Lea sighed as he slowly drew out his hand and produced the Keyblade. Xemnas snarled. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? Too bad. You all had a very good run. But now it ends. I will purge that light in you – with darkness!”

Suddenly, the floor beneath them shook as the ceiling gave way to the purplish night sky. Everything else crumbled beneath them, so that all that was left was just the floor, like they had been placed in an arena up in the sky, with Kingdom Hearts looming in the distance. Xemnas pulled out his Ethereal Blades, one on each hand, and charged. Lea, Sora, and Riku all went in different directions so as to divide Xemnas’ attention. Whoever he attacked would dodge or deflect, while another would strike Xemnas from behind. Just as it appeared that Xemnas would weaken, he summoned the powers of Kingdom Hearts to take on another form. Instead of what was a semblance of a man, he now took on the appearance a horned demigod or demon. This version of him was stronger, faster, and had far reaching attacks so that he was able to strike from either end of the arena at the same time. They were getting completely brutalized.

Riku ran up to Sora after he got knocked back from yet another attack. “You see that?” Riku pointed to Kingdom Hearts. “That’s where all of his energy is coming from! We’ll run out of energy long before he does!”

“So what do we do?” Sora asked.

“Let Axel and I take care of Xemnas; you destroy Kingdom Hearts with your Keyblade!” Sora nodded in agreement as Riku ran back out to help Lea.

With the Keyblade in both hands, Sora pointed at Kingdom Hearts, and a beam of light shot forth. Slowly, Kingdom Hearts started to crack. This strategy was clearly effective, as Xemnas quickly took notice and rushed towards Sora. “My Kingdom Hearts!” Xemnas screamed. Riku and Lea were constantly knocking Xemnas out of Sora’s path and urged Sora to hurry up.

“There’s no speed setting on this!” Sora snapped back. At last, the crack was large enough that Kingdom Hearts had split in half and was crumbling apart. With the power from Kingdom Hearts no longer in effect, Xemnas was considerably weaker and the Keyblades were ten times more damaging. With one final blow, they were finally able to vanquish Xemnas. However, instead of turning into dust and disappearing like all the other Nobodies, there remained a dark heart, which floated away.

“Oh no!” Lea cried. “We have to go back to Radiant Garden!” The trio rushed off in hopes that they could intercept the dark heart before it was too late.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kingdom Hearts seems to be whatever it wants to be depending on the story. In this story, Xemnas utilizes it to regenerate energy. He is also different from the other Nobodies, clearly not a Nobody since he has a "dark heart."


	45. Ventus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea, Sora, and Riku are off to save Ventus.

When they returned to Radiant Garden, they were met by Ansem, who told them what had happened. “The Door To Darkness! It opened up a dark portal just now! What happened out there?”

“I think Xemnas is trying to possess Ventus!” Lea cried as he ran past Ansem and jumped through the portal, with Sora and Riku following behind. The portal itself looked like it led to more of the nothingness that they had encountered when fighting Xemnas, only now there was no floor. Everywhere they looked there was nothing but purplish blackness from top to bottom. When they stepped forward, there was no friction that gave them a sense of movement.

“I’m confused – are we walking or floating?” Sora asked.

They reached out to find anything that could help them orient. From a distance, they saw a tiny light and decided to walk/float towards it. As they got closer to it, they realized that it was actually a solitary white door that was glowing from its edges. Lea turned the knob and discovered that it was locked. “Wait, how do we – oh, yeah.” He materialized his Keyblade and pointed at the lock. The door opened on its own, bathing them in a bright light. The light itself transformed the darkness that they had passed through into a regular hallway, and it became clear to them that it was actually a secret passage through the Rotunda. Beyond the door led to a large room that mirrored the appearance of Radiant Garden’s Audience Chamber. At the very end of that room was a large throne, where they found Ventus sitting, hunched over. Lea thought he looked just like Roxas, only a little older. It seemed like time had affected him, but there was otherwise no sign of decomposition or atrophy. Lea ran across the room ahead of Sora and Riku, only to slow down when he came close enough to Ventus, who was unmoved. “Ventus?” Lea called uncertainly.

When there was no response, Lea reached out to tap Ventus’ shoulder, but before he could do so, Ventus suddenly looked up and startled Lea so much that he leapt back about three feet. Ventus’ eyes were glowing orange, his mouth twisted up in malicious laughter, but it was not the voice of Ventus. It was Xemnas. “I told you!” Xemnas said through Ventus. “And now you get to know what power really feels like!” Ventus floated up from the throne as his body transformed, taking on the same dark armor that Riku had worn. This was Dark Ventus. As he held out both hands, a Keyblade materialized in each one; on the right was the Keyblade of Light, and on the left the Keyblade of Darkness.

“Two?” Lea exclaimed incredulously.

A dark cloud surrounded Ventus, and when he stretched his arms out again, there was a sudden blast, causing Lea, Sora, and Riku to get knocked back to the other side of the room. Before any of them had a chance to recover, Ventus rushed towards them so quickly that it looked like he was phasing in and out. He struck each of them several times with his Keyblades before he pulled back. Whenever they came within ten feet of Ventus, they suffered another knock back and an attack.

The trio regrouped behind one of the pillars to escape yet another blast. “Well, now I’m lost,” an exasperated Lea said to Sora and Riku. “He can attack us, and it is impossible for us to attack him back! Riku, you’re the expert on Darkness: what did you and Sora do when you were in that situation?”

“I don’t know,” Riku confessed. “I barely even remember. When I was fighting Sora in my dark form, I must have forgotten who I was.”

“That’s it!” Sora exclaimed. “Ventus is still in there! Axel, you have to appeal to that side of him!”

“Oh… okay,” Lea sighed reluctantly. They had been blasted so much, that everything was sore, and he did not know if he could endure another knock back. On top of that, despite the fact that he remembered being friends with Ventus, he still had a hard time remembering all of their experiences together.

With some trepidation, he emerged from behind the pillar, where he saw that Ventus was at the other side of the room, preparing to attack again. “Uh, hi, Ven,” Lea said uneasily. “Don’t you remember me? It’s Lea. Don’t you remember all the times we… played swords? The times we spent in Radiant Garden?” As he was desperately trying to scan through his memories, he saw, much to his pleasant surprise, that this strategy was effective. Not only did Ventus abstain from attacking, but Lea saw that the orange light in his eyes were slowly beginning to dim. Meanwhile, Riku and Sora snuck off so that they were able to position themselves directly behind Ventus. When they were close enough, they charged and attacked him from the back several times.

Ventus turned around and struck Riku and Sora down before making a dash at Lea, who had his Keyblade out and discovered that he can now finally counterattack! Their weapons clashed continuously as they were both trying to attack and counterattack. In between blows, Lea kept trying to think of every memory he had of them. When he could not think of anymore, he started sharing his memories of him and Roxas – their time hanging out at the Clock Tower, the sea salt ice-cream, their experience in Twilight Town, and all the worlds they traveled to for missions from the Organization. When he suddenly ran out of those memories, he started making some up: their time at the beach, being university students, and sailing the open seas.

Unexpectedly, he saw that Ventus drew back. “ _That_ never happened!” he said. Xemnas’ voice was still there, but this time, it was overlaid by Ventus’ own voice.

“Well… no,” Lea admitted. “But it could happen if you want it to! You can still live your own life! You don’t have to be Xemnas’ puppet!”

As if in response, Ventus’ face contorted. His Keyblades clattered to the floor as he doubled over and grasped his hair by the temples. “Get… out… of… my… head!” Ventus uttered in his own voice. “Never!” he replied back to himself, this time in Xemnas’ voice. He hit himself in the head repeatedly with his hands and pulled at his hair.

While Lea watched this bizarre spectacle in a state of bewilderment, he eventually became aware that Sora and Riku were yelling for him and frantically gesticulating with their arms. He turned to their direction. “What?” he yelled back at them.

“Finish him! Finish him!” they shouted. “Hurry!”

“But which one am I fighting? Ventus or Xemnas?”

“Xemnas is still in him!” they responded.

Before Lea could do anything else, Ventus picked up his dark Keyblade. Lea braced for another attack, but to his astonishment, Ventus held the dark Keyblade erect with the blade facing up and fell directly upon it. The impact caused both Ventus and Xemnas to scream in agony as he collapsed on his side. The voices died down and the dark heart came out of Ventus’ body, this time dissolving into dust. The Keyblades also disappeared.

Sora and Riku ran up to get a closer inspection. Lea slowly knelt down and turned Ventus over so that he was lying on his back. “Ventus?” he called out anxiously. When he did not respond, Lea shook him by the shoulders and shouted out even louder, “Ventus!”

Lea was doing this for a while until Riku finally tried to interject. “Axel… Axel, I think he’s – ”

Lea’s eyes flashed with anger as he looked up at Riku. “What? Dead? After everything that’s happened – _after all of that_ – and this is how it ends? No! I won’t let that happen! You hear me, Ventus? You need to wake up! You need to come back!” Lea was screaming and shaking him earnestly but then suddenly stopped. He let out a sob and started crying when he realized the futility of his efforts but at the same time refused to accept its reality. He desperately clasped onto to his friend, as if trying to salvage whatever was left. “Roxas! Ven! Please come back! Don’t leave me!” He was crying and pleading to Ventus, but eventually he began muttering more to himself than anyone else. He had forgotten that Riku and Sora were still there.

Sora tried to say something to Lea, but Riku stopped him. “Maybe we ought to let him grieve in peace,” Riku said. He tugged at Sora to follow him. Sora hesitated, as he did not want to leave Lea like that, but not knowing what else do to, he sadly turned away and walked out with Riku.

xXx

For the next three days, no one was able to bring Lea out of that room. Although he had stopped crying, in its place he became stoic and unresponsive whenever anyone tried to talk to him. If they tried to move him or Ventus, he would produce his Keyblade and threaten to attack them. They knew he needed time, but they were not sure how long they can let him go on like that and what interventions could be used to snap him out of it.

On the third day, Sora decided to try again. As usual, he found Lea sitting next to Ventus’ body, with one knee up to his chest so that he could hold himself upright. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he had an overall haggard appearance. Sora doubted that he slept at all. “Axel,” Sora said, “I’m sorry you feel like you have lost all your friends. But you know what? You’ve also gained some too. Even though you and I started out as rivals, we’ve been through so much together that I consider you a friend.”

Lea lifted his eyes to Sora and managed a weak smile. “Thanks, Sora,” he said. “I know you have my back.” He slowly returned his gaze to the floor. “We should have left Xemnas alone,” Lea sighed miserably. “Who knows? Maybe he would have left _us_ alone.”

Sora sat down next to Lea. “Somehow I doubt that. But I’ve been thinking: maybe I can help wake up Ventus the way Roxas did for me.”

Lea looked puzzled. “But Roxas _died_ just so you can wake up, _and_ he was your Nobody. You can’t exactly compare the two situations.”

“Yeah… but remember how I told you that Kairi brought me back to life? She didn’t have to die for that. Also, Roxas is very much a part of Ventus – I think you may have told me that before. So I wouldn’t be giving him a part of my heart; I’d be giving him what already belongs to him.”

Lea pondered over what Sora said, and it seemed to make sense. “Well, I guess it doesn’t hurt to try,” he said.

Sora stood before Ventus and pointed the Keyblade towards him. A beam of light shot forth and entered into his chest, gradually radiating outward until his whole body glowed. Sora then lowered the Keyblade. After a few seconds, Ventus’ eyes slowly opened, and he sat up as Lea looked on in disbelief. “Ventus?” Lea breathed. “Do you… remember me?”

Ventus knitted his brows in amusement. “Yeah, Lea. I was wondering when you’d find me, since you took so long. You didn’t forget about _me_ , did you?”

“What? No!” Lea protested, but then he thought about everything that had happened. “Well… maybe?”

Ventus turned to Sora. “Were you the one that woke me up?”

Sora smiled and nodded.

“Then… that means you’re the Keyblade Master!” Ventus explained that right before Xehanort locked him up in the Chamber of Darkness, Ventus released a piece of his heart so that a new Keyblade Master could be rise up and continue the fight between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness. The heart came upon whoever it found had the most resilient spirit and can resist the Power of Darkness.

“You think I’m resilient? Thanks!” Sora beamed. They laughed.

“I’ve been a part of all of your adventures, Sora,” Ventus replied. “That piece of my heart that was with you experienced everything you did. And in some ways I’ve been a part of yours too, Lea. Or… do you go by Axel now?”

Lea smiled and shook his head. “You can call me Lea. Axel is a name Xemnas gave me, and I rather forget about him.”

Sora and Lea helped Ventus stand up and together they walked out of the Chamber of Darkness, where Ventus had been imprisoned for six years.

xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually written before I ever knew that KHIII decided to make Roxas and Ventus separate characters. When I found that out, I was not too happy especially given that Lea REMEMBERS being best friends with Ventus but then when he sees Ventus, they do not act like it. I am guessing that it is because Nomura wanted to preserve the trios? Also, I WANTED Ventus to age. I felt that it was important that Lea has a friend his own age.


	46. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone goes back home. Lea ad Ventus start their life anew.

The next day, Sora, Riku, Lea, and Ventus all met up in the courtyard of Radiant Garden to see each other one final time before saying good-bye. Sora and Riku were going back home to Destiny Islands and see their friend Kairi, just like they had promised her. Meanwhile, Lea and Ventus decided to relocate to Twilight Town. Even though they were citizens of Radiant Garden, it had not been the same for either of them; besides, they wanted to start anew.

“Sora, Riku, thanks for everything,” Lea said. “You guys are all right.”

“You too,” Sora replied. “Maybe you can come visit us at Destiny Islands.”

“Okay,” Lea agreed. “But it won’t be for a while, though.”

“Why not?”

“We enrolled for the fall semester at the university in Twilight Town,” Ventus replied. “It’s coming up in a couple of weeks.”

“What? When did that happen?”

“Yesterday.”

“Gee, you guys wasted no time with that!”

“On the contrary,” Lea said, “I think we’ve wasted enough time.” It was true that when the Darkness had descended on Radiant Garden, Ventus and Lea were teenagers. With their childhood having come and gone, they wanted to make sure they did not lose opportunities as young adults. Riku and Sora were still teenagers, and so can still enjoy it, although they too have matured a lot from their experience.

“Do you think you’ll ever be able to get rid of the darkness from your heart?” Ventus turned to Riku inquiringly.

“Not yet,” Riku replied. “In case something like this happens again, I want to be ready.”

It occurred to them that they might all still be in possession of their powers. When they flicked their wrists, they saw that they were all still able to produce the Keyblade.

“Well, at least we know what to do if a next time _does_ happen,” Lea said.

Ansem came out to wish them all the best. He was sad to see them go as he had viewed himself like a father figure to them, but all fathers knew when to let their children move on. He promised them that he will continue to build up Radiant Garden, and that if they ever wanted to visit again, they were more than welcomed to do so.

xXx

Two weeks had passed since they had left Radiant Garden. Ventus was sitting up at the Clock Tower, admiring the sunset. A few minutes later Lea arrived, plopped right next to him, and handed him a stick of sea salt ice-cream. “It’ll be the end of summer soon,” Lea sighed. “The longest summer of my life.”

“Yeah,” Ventus laughed in agreement.

Lea smiled at him as he thought about all the days they had spent sitting just like this, when they were Axel and Roxas, Nobodies of Organization XIII. It seemed like such a far off memory now from a different lifetime. They had other things to think about. “So, we’ve got seven days till school starts. You want to start on that independent study?”

“Nah, maybe later,” Ventus replied. They sat in silence for a while until Ventus suddenly spoke up again. “You know,” he said wistfully, “I’ve always thought sunsets were beautiful. They all pretty much look the same from here. All of them beautiful. But somehow, tonight, this one stands out the most.”

Lea gazed out into the horizon, propping himself up with a single elbow, as he pondered over Ventus’ words with his sea salt ice-cream. “Yeah, I see what you mean,” he replied after some time. What they had realized was that from that day on, they did not have to fight just to be. Their existence was granted to them, and for the first time in a long time, it was theirs to enjoy.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ultimately, I wanted Axel (Lea) to have his happy ending with Roxas (Ventus). I remembered being so devastated with the way 358/2 days ended, which only made Axel and Roxas' scenes all the more tragic in KHII, that the only way I was able to process this was to just write about it, and hence, this fanfic was born. If you've read this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read my ideas! Let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic builds upon its own lore and in many ways diverges from the original Kingdom Hearts. The story is inspired by all the Kingdom Hearts games, but I am not familiar with other Kingdom Hearts works, such as the manga (although I will buy it someday).


End file.
